Future World
by Sanluris
Summary: Shiloh and Gale find themselves in a desolate and cold world, realizing that Dusknoir betrayed them. Grovyle is suddenly their only ally in the dark and hostile world, and time is running out to change the future, with Grovyle as the only key to the truth.
1. Memories

**Future**

"Gale?" Someone was shaking my shoulders, and I groaned and sat up painfully. Rubbing my eyes, I looked around and saw Shiloh coming into focus. "Good. You don't seem hurt." I stood gingerly, rubbing my arms, and stared around in confusion.

"How about you?" I said, teeth chattering. Shiloh lowered her shoulders and gave me a concerned look. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm fine," she replied, then gave me a saddened, terse look.

"Where are we?" I asked slowly, rubbing my eyes with a grimace as Shiloh helped me get to my feet.

"Some kind of jail," she replied unhappily.

"Jail?" I repeated in confusion. Shiloh turned and gestured.

"Look." I walked closer to her and could make out bars blocking a large opening in a rocky wall. Shiloh frowned and folded her arms. "We're in a cave, but someone built bars over the entrance." I could slip an arm through the bars, but even though Treecko had slight frames, the bars were still too close together to squeeze through. Staring around at the gloomy cave, I slumped my shoulders and looked at Shiloh in confusion.

"How'd we get here?" Shiloh faced me with a defeated expression.

"Dusknoir threw us in here," she explained in a subdued tone. "After he dragged us into the dimensional hole." I sat down heavily, remembering. "It's been a couple hours since then, I think."

"If Dusknoir took us into the Dimensional Hole…" I hesitated and wrapped my arms tightly around myself, "are we in the future?"

"We must be," Shiloh murmured uneasily. "Dusknoir said the future world was always dark...and..." She trailed off, then wrapped her arms around her body.

"Let's sit together," I said, and gestured to her. She trudged over and sat down, then pressed close to my right side. "It'll be a little warmer, at least."

"Whenever it's this cold," Shiloh said after a few minutes, "I think being a fire-type would be great." She pressed a little closer to me, and I felt her shivering.

"Why would Dusknoir bring us here?" I wondered dully, drawing my legs up to my chest and resting my head on my knees.

"I don't know," Shiloh answered, sounding troubled. "He came in earlier, before you woke up, and I asked him." She gave a long sigh. "He didn't answer...and he took my satchel away. I tried to stop him, but he was too strong."

"Are you alright?" I asked, feeling a quick surge of anger.

"He didn't attack," Shiloh answered back with a quiet growl. We huddled together in silence for a while longer.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, shivering.

"It's okay," Shiloh told me. "We'll think of something." Suddenly, sharp growls and scratching noises sounded just beyond the bars, and I felt a spike of fear. The growls got louder, and I jumped and scooted backwards. "Easy," Shiloh murmured. "We'll get through this." A scraping noise filled the air, and a moment later the bars started lifting and soon disappeared from sight. Shiloh and I jumped to our feet when six figures crowded into the cave and surrounded us, their eyes shining. I glared at them in the darkness.

"Finally awake?" One of them rasped. "Good."

"What do you want?" I asked defensively, and felt Shiloh tense next to me. The Pokémon's chuckles echoed around the cell, and I finally recognized their hissing voices; they were Sableye, the same Pokémon that had knocked Grovyle into the dimensional hole.

"Come with us," the Sableye in front of me hissed, and swiftly approached me, holding up something in both paws.

"Back off!" I lunged at the Sableye, but felt something tackle me from behind and shove me firmly against the ground. My head was lifted and cloth was tied over my eyes, and then I was yanked roughly to my feet and pushed forcefully.

"Walk!" One of the Sableye commanded, and I twisted around, but couldn't see a thing. It was even darker than before.

"Shiloh!" I called as the Sableye kept shoving me forward.

"I'm here!" She cried from behind me, and I tried to turn and go to her, but someone grabbed my arms and roughly shoved them behind my back, then tied them together. The Sableye kept pushing me forward and I tried to stumble along as best I could, but suddenly I ran into a hard surface.

"What are you doing?" I yelled when someone grabbed me and lifted me up, then turned me around and pressed me to the hard surface. Paws held me tightly while another set of paws started winding something around my body. I squirmed, but couldn't move an inch, and realized I'd been tied to something. Paws tugged at my face and pulled, and I flinched as a bright light shone down from the ceiling. My blindfold was gone but as I looked around I wished I still had it on. The room I was in was empty and dark, and there was something wet soaking the large pillar I was tied to, as well as the rocky ground below me…something dark red. Gasping in panic, I attempted pull my arms free of the bindings. I discovered quickly that it was useless, though. I'd been bound with thick rope all the way up to my neck. I could turn my head left and right a little, but that was all.

"I'd calm down if I were you," a voice advised dryly, and I glanced quickly to the right.

"Grovyle?" I asked blankly, and he gave a low chuckle. The Pokémon was tied with rope to a thick pillar as big around as a tree trunk.

"That's me. So we meet again."

"Gale!" When I heard Shiloh's voice coming from my other side I forgot about Grovyle and turned my head towards her.

"Are you alright?" I asked quickly, ignoring a sharp intake of breath from Grovyle. She squirmed a bit, then smiled weakly at me.

"Fine," Shiloh replied. "Don't worry. How about you?"

"Alright," I responded.

"Gale?" I glanced back towards Grovyle and saw him staring at me with wide yellow eyes.

"Yeah, that's my name," I told him, frowning, not sure why he was so interested.

"You're...Gale?" Grovyle asked, and his expression was dumbstruck, an emotion that looked strange on a Pokémon as bad as him.

"I'm..._a _Gale," I told him, feeling puzzled.

"You probably know some other Gale," Shiloh interjected, and I nodded.

"You're probably right," Grovyle agreed, then sighed quietly. He almost seemed a little disappointed. Dark chuckles distracted me and I glanced downward. The Sableye were leering up at me with glinting eyes. "Anyway...you ended up here too." Grovyle scoffed, and I saw that he was scowling down at the gathered Sableye. "It's nice to have some company aside from them."

"It makes sense for you to be here," Shiloh told him sharply, "but not us. We haven't done anything."

"You must have," Grovyle objected with a snort, "otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to capture you."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Shiloh cried furiously. "We really didn't do anything!"

"That doesn't matter to them, or to me," Grovyle said darkly. "They're going to get rid of us anyway."

"Get rid of us...?" Shiloh shook her head back and forth, struggling against the thick ropes. "Why?"

"Quiet. Listen. Don't waste your energy." Grovyle lowered his voice. "Wait for an opportunity."

"You mean," I whispered, "to escape? You think we can?"

"We have to." I looked back at Shiloh and saw the anger in her eyes fade a bit. She bit her lip and nodded.

"He's right," she murmured softly. About to turn back to Grovyle, I noticed movement ahead of me, and gulped when I saw Dusknoir slowly floating closer.

"Comfortable?" The ghost Pokémon asked with a light chuckle. "I suppose not."

"Dusknoir, what are you doing?" Shiloh asked urgently. Dusknoir gazed at Shiloh, then me, and finally at Grovyle. With a little shrug, he looked down at the Sableye.

"They have been tied up, Lord Dusknoir," one of them said in an amused tone.

"_Lord_ Dusknoir?" I repeated, widening my eyes.

"Those Sableye are Dusknoir's followers," Grovyle explained in a mutter.

"Ignore them," Dusknoir stated placidly, and I realized that the polite tone he normally used was gone, making it hard to believe he was the same Pokémon. He'd acted strangely before, when he'd met Grovyle in the crystal cave, which had first made me feel that something was off about him. "You may get ready." The Sableye shuffled closer and raised their arms, showing off unnervingly sharp-looking claws.

"Wait, Dusknoir," I spoke up urgently, and the ghost Pokémon turned his red eye on me. A shiver ran through my body. "You were just going to _arrest_ Grovyle."

"That's right," Shiloh added. "Why are you doing this?" "I have no need to answer you," Dusknoir growled coldly.

"Gale," Grovyle muttered, and I glanced sideways at him. "The Sableye use their claws to attack. To hurt us, they'll need to hit the ropes."

"So we can get out," I whispered in realization.

"Right. It's our chance to attack," Grovyle added in an undertone. I hurriedly faced Shiloh.

"Grovyle has a plan," I said while anxiously keeping an eye on the steadily approaching Sableye. Dusknoir was watching intently. "When the Sableye attack," I whispered, "they'll cut the ropes, too...so when we're loose, we can attack."

"Ready?" Dusknoir questioned, and the Sableye nodded in unison and grinned widely.

"What if they don't hit the ropes?" Shiloh asked, her voice quaking.

"I…I don't know," I confessed ashamedly, tensing up in fear.

"Then we're done for," Grovyle muttered darkly. "Don't think about it. Just be ready."

"Now!" Dusknoir's voice boomed, and two Sableye lunged at me and began slashing their claws so rapidly that their arms were only purple blurs. Their first strikes sheared the ropes, but the following ones started to hit me, sending slashes of pain through my body. I yelled and strained against the ropes, but I couldn't move an inch.

"Endure it!" Grovyle cried out, his voice tight with pain. Slowly I opened my eyes, gritting my teeth against the pain. My heart was thudding painfully, and my breaths were becoming faster as panic and pain were starting to get to me, but all of a sudden I noticed that the ropes didn't feel so tight. "Get ready," Grovyle hissed.

"Shiloh," I gasped, painfully looking over at her. She gave a single nod; she had cuts across her body, but I realized her ropes were ripped more than halfway.

"GO!" Grovyle shouted fiercely, and I strained against the ropes with all my strength, then felt them rip even further. I pressed my paws to the pillar I'd been tied to and pushed off. The Sableye in front of me looked alarmed for a split second, and then I slammed into them, tackling them into the ground. One slashed at me, scoring me across the right side of my face, but I grabbed him around the throat and focused on using absorb. I felt the stinging pain from my cuts lessen a bit. "Come to me!" I heard Grovyle yell, so I let the Sableye go, then frantically looked around for Shiloh. She sent a jet of water from her mouth, which hit two advancing Sableye dead on, sending them careening clear across the darkened room; from there they slammed into a wall. The two Dark type Pokémon crumpled into a heap and didn't move.

"Shiloh!" I called to her, and she glanced around, her eyes lit with hostility. Beckoning to her and pointing to Grovyle, I saw her eyes clear and she rushed towards me. She grabbed my arm and we ran towards Grovyle. I watched him lift a shiny blue object above his head.

"What are you doing? Stop them!" Dusknoir bellowed. I stared up at Grovyle, and saw his eyes narrow angrily as he brought the blue object down. A bright flash lit the area.

"Behind the pillars!" Grovyle's voice hissed close to me, and I heard his steps moving away, but I couldn't tell where he was going.

"Where are you?" I called urgently, and yelped when I was grabbed by my neck and dragged. I heard Shiloh gasp in alarm before I was given a sharp shove that pushed me up against something. The light was starting to fade, and I glanced around sharply, seeing that I was leaning against a pillar. Shiloh was behind the one she'd been tied to, and Grovyle was pressed up against the pillar he'd been tied to as well. I pressed my body against the pillar and made sure I was completely hidden behind it. I grabbed my tail and hugged it close just in case and took shallow breaths.

"Find them!" Dusknoir's enraged voice sounded and I pressed both hands to my head. "They can't have gotten far! GO!" The Sableye made sounds of alarm, then scuttled off, their footsteps frantic. Dusknoir growled and then there was silence. After a moment, I dared to move and glance across at Grovyle. He caught my eye, peeked around the pillar, and nodded at me. I sighed, then cautiously stepped out into the open.

"Is he gone?" Shiloh asked in trepidation.

"For now," Grovyle answered her. "We need to go. I know the way out."

"You want us to go with you?" I asked in surprise, and Grovyle gave me an agitated look.

"Unless you want to get caught again." I caught Shiloh's eye and she nodded urgently.

"No way," I said, and Grovyle turned quickly.

"Come on then." He sped nimbly off, leading the way down corridors and around corners. There were other caves along the way, and Grovyle stopped at one without explanation and darted inside. I started to follow him, but he turned and shook his head firmly. "Keep watch. Tell me if anyone's coming." Stepping back into the dark corridor, I noticed Shiloh was standing with her arms crossed.

"Hey," I said quietly, moving closer, and she looked up with a tight smile.

"What's going on, Gale?" She muttered. "Dusknoir...did he really want to kill us?"

"It looked that way...but it means he was lying."

"That's how Dusknoir is," Grovyle said, appearing between us suddenly. I jumped as he tossed something to me.

"My satchel!" I exclaimed, pulling the strap over my head. Quickly I sifted through the items in the satchel, looking for the photo, but it wasn't there. Disappointed, I looked up and saw Grovyle tossing a satchel to Shiloh as well. Looking a little dazed, she put it on. "Didn't you steal this?" I wondered. "Why are you giving it back to me?"

"Keep moving," Grovyle ordered, and I quickly obeyed, but pressed him for an answer along the way.

"Dusknoir said you stole it," I said.

"He lied, like you said," Grovyle said bluntly, pausing momentarily to check around a corner. "Move. We're outside." The three of us hurried down a corridor and out of the gloomy tunnels. The air was still cold, but because of the running we'd done I was almost glad for it. Grovyle kept moving along, and I began struggling to keep up after a minute, and could tell Shiloh was too. I was about to ask Grovyle if we could rest when he stopped and turned abruptly. "This place is hidden." He was leading the way to a little alcove underneath a looming mountain range. "We'll rest here, but not for long." Panting heavily, I trudged over to a sheer rock wall and collapsed into a sitting position. Shiloh sat beside me and leaned against my shoulder, breathing heavily.

"Did you see anything other items with the satchels, Grovyle?" I asked breathlessly, and Grovyle shook his head once.

"No."

"Nothing like a picture?" I pressed almost desperately.

"Nothing like that," Grovyle said with certainty, crossing his arms and giving me an odd look.

"Why...why did Dusknoir...try to..." Shiloh trailed off, her expression pained. "We didn't do anything."

"You'd have to ask him, but you can't go back now." Grovyle shrugged. "He'd just try to kill you again." Shiloh grimaced and bit her lip, then wrapped both arms around herself and suppressed a shiver.

"Shouldn't we wait until it gets brighter?" Grovyle shook his head.

"The sun won't come up," he sighed impatiently, crossing his arms. "The planet is paralyzed."

"Dusknoir said that, but...I hoped it wasn't true." Shiloh lowered her head. "When did it happen?"

"I went to the past just before the planet's paralysis started," Grovyle replied, then turned around and tipped his head back. "I thought I'd be able to fix it...but now everything is frozen. Day never comes, the wind doesn't blow, and the seasons never change."

"That's exactly how Dusknoir described it," Shiloh murmured, looking downcast.

"What do you mean by fixing it?" I asked.

"Fixing the flow of time," Grovyle clarified. "That was my mission."

"Now that's a lie," Shiloh told him angrily. "You were stealing the Time Gears! That made time stop!" Grovyle sighed heavily and turned around, his arms still crossed.

"Listen, I'd like to explain, but we don't have time. Dusknoir and the Sableye will be on our trail soon."

"You want us to come with you," I said cautiously, "even though it's our fault you were captured?" Grovyle's yellow eyes met mine and he frowned.

"You didn't know what Dusknoir was really like," he said. "You'll be caught if you wander around here alone, but I know the way."

"We're not traveling with you," Shiloh growled. "You attacked us twice and hurt Azelf and his friends!" Grovyle's expression clouded, and he stared up at the darkened sky.

"That's part of the explanation I can't give right now." I turned sharply and stared off into the darkness.

"Stop, guys," I said quickly. "I heard something." Footsteps approached me from behind and I glanced up to see Grovyle standing next to me with a serious expression.

"I hear it too...it's Dusknoir." He glanced sharply down at me. "Time to go, whether you like me or not."

"Let's just escape for now, Shiloh," I said urgently, turning and running towards her.

"Can you stand?" I held my paws out and pulled her up when she gripped them.

"I'm fine," she said with a nod. Grovyle brushed past us and she gave him a wary look, but began to hurry after him. "But one thing is for sure—I'm going to figure all of this out, Grovyle."

"Do what you like." Grovyle threw a faint smirk over his shoulder, then faced forward again. "I'm going back to the past, and I imagine you want to get home, too."

"You bet we do," Shiloh retorted fervently. "I hate this place."

"Then it's best if you trust me for the moment," Grovyle declared, and Shiloh gave a scoff. "But if you don't, it doesn't bother me. I still have something important to do."

"Stealing the Time Gears is hardly important," Shiloh grumbled, glaring at Grovyle's back as we ran onward. The scenery became an uninteresting blur of shadowy gray and I eventually got tired of staring at it, so I watched Grovyle as we ran.

_You're...Gale? _What he'd said earlier suddenly came back to me, and I thought hard, wondering what other Gale he'd known. A flickering light caught my attention and I looked up and realized we were on a high cliff. I stopped dead, shaking a little, then tried to focus on the sparkling lights.

"What are you doing?" Grovyle's voice called back to me and I jolted a bit. "We can't stop."

"I was just looking at that," I murmured, pointing at the lights. Grovyle stared off into the distance, then shook his head.

"Those lights are from the stockade," he explained in a subdued tone. "That's where we were."

"Those are the only lights around here," Shiloh stated quietly, "but we could have…died there."

"That's why we need to keep going," Grovyle told her firmly. "Come on. It's not much longer until we'll be able to go back to the past."

"Really?" I asked, looking eagerly at Grovyle.

"You'll see," Grovyle answered. "It's better if you see for yourself. Let's keep walking."

"This had better not be a trick." Shiloh was crossing her arms. "You attacked us before. You might again." Grovyle turned and gave Shiloh a stern glare.

"Unless you want to get caught," he stated firmly, "you need to trust me. I already said we don't have time."

"It's alright, Shiloh," I told her quietly once Grovyle had turned and started sprinting ahead. "I think we can believe him."

"I don't know." She glared at Grovyle's retreating form for a moment. I nudged her gently and she looked doubtfully at me. "He's not a good Pokémon," she muttered.

"If he wanted to hurt us, then he could have already," I said. "We know that more than anyone." Shiloh frowned at me.

"So...why hasn't he?"

"I don't know," I replied with a thoughtful frown.

"Maybe we're missing something," Shiloh sighed in confusion.

"At any rate," I mumbled, "he's the only one who can help us."

"I guess so," Shiloh muttered, then looked intently at me. "I trust you more, and if you trust Grovyle, then...I will too. For now."

"That's fair." I gave her a relieved smile.

"Come on, you two! Hurry!" Grovyle's voice called from up ahead. Shiloh took a deep breath, then started off at a run, and I kept pace beside her. It was still painful to go at such a fast pace, but we got into a kind of rhythm. Grovyle let us stop once and share an Oran berry; he even took part of it when Shiloh apprehensively offered him a piece.

"See that?" Shiloh panted a while later when Grovyle stopped us to take another short break. "There's a forest way up ahead."

"That's where we're going," Grovyle announced, then sighed and added, "I have a friend there who helped me get the past, and I'm going to ask for her help again."

"She can do that?" Shiloh questioned curiously, looking at Grovyle with interest instead of suspicion.

"Yes. She can travel through time," Grovyle explained as he navigated the way forward.

"How?" Shiloh asked, and Grovyle lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

"Some Pokémon have unusual powers, and that's hers."

"So, she helped you get to our time?" I asked, feeling intrigued and a little hopeful.

"Yes, but she had to have help." Grovyle sat and gazed around. "If she has to time travel somewhere far, like to your time, she uses something called the Passage of Time."

"Is it easy to find?" Shiloh wondered, sounding a little awed.

"No, but I've been there before." Grovyle smirked faintly. "I know shortcuts, too. Dusknoir doesn't."

"Good," I said, feeling a little spur of confidence.

"Yeah." Shiloh took a deep breath, then let it out in a huge sigh.

"It's just a little further," Grovyle said, gesturing urgently. "Come on, you two."


	2. Fate

**All, or a lot, shall be explained in this chapter.  
Thank you for reading! :)  
I don't own Pokémon. I just write about them.**

* * *

"Let's stop for a couple minutes," Grovyle announced. The three of us had been walking for ages, it seemed, and Shiloh and I had just barely been keeping up with Grovyle. We'd only stopped a few times, and I was exhausted. Panting heavily, I trudged over to a pale gray pine tree. Reaching out, I flattened my paw against the trunk, then jerked it away quickly.

"It's cold," I said, rubbing my paws together to warm them up. "What's wrong with it?"

"Everything is that way." I turned and saw Grovyle standing with a slight frown. "Time has stopped. It's not growing; it's as if it's dead."

"If the wind doesn't blow," Shiloh mumbled, rubbing her arms, "it should at least be warm…right?"

"It's because the sun doesn't come up anymore," Grovyle sighed. "Remember?"

"Grovyle, I really want to know something." Shiloh approached Grovyle and gazed firmly at him.

"Make it quick," Grovyle told her, and she took a breath.

"Why is Dusknoir after you?" Shiloh asked questioningly, her arms folded close to her body; I noticed she was shivering.

"Because I want to change this future," he answered. "Dusknoir wants the world to stay this way, and so does Primal Dialga."

"But why?" Shiloh asked in disbelief. "Everything's terrible this way."

"Dialga?" I echoed with interest. "I've heard of him." Shiloh and Grovyle looked sharply at me.

"You have?" Grovyle demanded, and I shook my head.

"The name just sounds familiar," I explained quietly. "I've never met him or anything."

"Hardly anyone has," Grovyle said. "Only Dusknoir and his Sableye."

"So, Dusknoir wants to catch you so the future won't change?" I asked, trying to think hard.

"That's right," Grovyle responded, and Shiloh gave a snort of disbelief.

"How could he?" She asked, sounding dumbstruck.

"Well, he..." Grovyle trailed off, suddenly looking troubled. "The world wasn't always frozen like this. But Dialga wants him to make sure I don't restore time." He glanced at me briefly, then looked away and crossed his arms. "Dialga isn't...seeing reason. When time went out of control, he lost control as well."

"Dusknoir told everyone that putting the Time Gears back would fix everything," Shiloh said, her eyes wide with worry. "Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf took care of that...but it didn't help."

"If I told you Dusknoir had been lying, you wouldn't have believed me." A faint smile crossed Grovyle's face. "You want to find the truth on your own, remember." Shiloh didn't answer, and Grovyle strode past her, deeper into the forest. "Let's keep moving." Without a word, Shiloh followed after him, and I kept close to her. We hadn't encountered any Pokémon so far, but even if we had to fight I almost felt like I'd be glad to see some other Pokémon.

"Why aren't there any Pokémon here?" I questioned curiously, unable to keep the thought to myself.

"They're frozen in time," Grovyle answered shortly. "Maybe some managed to avoid being caught when time stopped, but I doubt it. Dusknoir and the Sableye weren't here when it happened, and neither was I."

"What about the friend you talked about?" Shiloh queried.

"She knew that the planet would become paralyzed," Grovyle explained, then glanced back over his shoulder. "In fact, she's the one who warned me about it, and she told me that she would escape through time when it happened."

"What's her name?" I ventured cautiously, and Grovyle turned his head back.

"Celebi." I repeated the name under my breath and felt a shiver of recognition. "She has another name, of course...but she'll tell you when we meet her. It won't be long now."

"So, she went through time." Shiloh's voice rose questioningly. "Doesn't that mean she isn't here?"

"She'll be there," Grovyle said. "Trust me on that." Shiloh caught my eye and gave me a puzzled look. I held up my arms, not sure what Grovyle meant either. Eventually, Grovyle stopped in a clearing of dull gray trees and tipped his head back. "It's me, Grovyle," he called out, but didn't raise his voice too much, and I knew he was wary of Dusknoir finding us. The three of us waited, but nothing happened.

"She's not coming," Shiloh murmured anxiously. "Do you think she's okay? Dusknoir could have caught her, too."

"Caught me?! Really?" A sharply indignant voice echoed through the clearing. Shiloh jumped, then glanced around with wide eyes that finally landed on me.

"Turn around," she whispered.

"What?" I asked, then glanced behind me and froze, staring. A small pink Pokémon was hovering just a couple inches from my face. Two thin antennae extended from her forehead. "Celebi?" I asked when I'd gotten over my shock.

"That's me," the pink Pokémon said cheerfully. "You can call me Linné." Her green eyes stretched wide so suddenly that I jumped. "...Who are you?"

"Gale," I responded nervously.

"Gale?" She breathed disbelievingly, looking awestruck.

"Not that Gale," Grovyle said, striding up. "These two were captured by Dusknoir, but we got away, as you can see." Linné murmured sympathetically.

"You're hurt," she observed. Thanks to the Sableye, all three of us had almost been shredded to bits. We'd been focused on running, though, and hadn't taken enough time so far to stop and completely heal our injuries. Linné floated towards Grovyle and touched both his arms, one after the other, and I stared in amazement when the red slash marks became paler red and finally vanished. Linné did the same for Shiloh, and soon there was no trace of the recent injuries on her. The pink Celebi touched my face, then arms, and I felt the stinging pain fade.

"Thank you," Shiloh breathed. "Grovyle said you had unusual powers." Linné gave a light, clear laugh.

"He did?" Grovyle sighed as Linné floated over to him, her pale green wings fluttering slightly. "I'm glad you're safe." Suddenly she frowned, though, and looked more sadly at Grovyle. "I assume that the mission didn't go as planned."

"Unfortunately…no, it didn't," Grovyle murmured, his head lowered.

"That was...because of us," Shiloh offered, sounding ashamed. I glanced at her in surprise. "Dusknoir told us that Grovyle was stealing the Time Gears so he could destroy the world. We tried to stop him." Linné gasped sharply.

"I hope you know that's not true," she told Shiloh, who looked away and nodded after a moment.

"I wasn't sure, but...Dusknoir wanted to get rid of us, too...even though he's been nice to us before." She shook her head slowly. "He even saved our lives."

"That was just a show," Grovyle muttered. "Linné, we need to get back to the past. Can you help me one more time?"

"Of course, dear Grovyle!" Linné exclaimed kindly. "I miss the way the world used to be." She smiled encouragingly. "You'll succeed this time."

"Now that we know the truth, we'll help you," Shiloh told Grovyle hopefully. "I'm sorry we didn't trust you. I still...can't believe Dusknoir's the bad one, but...it's starting to make sense."

"Don't let it upset you," Linné told Shiloh in a reassuring tone. "You know now."

"She's right," I put in, then looked up at the Celebi. "Can you really get us back?"

"You don't trust me?" Linné shook her head, but there was a faint smile on her face and a kind look in her eyes; apparently she wasn't really upset.

"I do…I'm just relieved. I want to get back as soon as we can," I explained, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Dusknoir's still looking for us," Grovyle said, and Linné nodded, her little smile vanishing.

"Leave it to me. The Passage of Time isn't far." She glanced at me for a moment, then Shiloh. "Do you have any other injuries?"

"No, I feel a lot better," Shiloh replied brightly. "That was amazing."

"Thank you," Linné said, her warm smile back. Her tone was welcoming and polite, but unlike Dusknoir, I knew she was being genuine. "Stay close to me."

"We will," Shiloh said gratefully.

"We're counting on you," Grovyle put in, and Linné gave him a keen glance.

"Don't you worry, dear Grovyle." Linné twirled around in the air and nodded brightly, then spun and flew off through the forest. Grovyle set off at a fast clip after Linné; Shiloh and I had to hurry again to catch up. I noticed that the landscape was the same as we traveled along; the world lacked color and light. The trees were all a dull, ashen gray and the sky was dark, as if it was about to storm. I'd noticed the lack of color and the coldness before, but it was really sinking in now. Soon enough I stopped paying attention as my feet kept pounding against the same dismal landscape. I barely noticed when the forest scenery changed to a bare and rocky landscape; it was too upsetting to think that the future planet was paralyzed and that Dusknoir wanted to keep it that way, and the realization that he'd tried to kill Grovyle, Shiloh and me just added to the heaviness in my chest. And something else was bothering me; I had a little tickle in my mind, the sensation that meant I'd forgotten something important.

"Hey, Gale...how are you…holding up?" Shiloh's tired voice brought me back to reality.

"I'm...fine." I noticed she was panting heavily as she ran, and had barely been able to get her question out between breaths. I managed to ask, "What about you? I never...check on you...but you always...worry about everyone." Shiloh gave a breathless laugh.

"Oh, come on...you do." She fixed me with a sincere look. "You're worried right now but don't want to say anything." I felt a jolt of surprise.

"How...could you tell?"

"You always do it...you keep things to yourself," Shiloh panted, then trailed off as she slowed to a jog and then a limping walk. Glancing ahead I saw that Grovyle and Linné were standing still as they gazed quietly at something. Shiloh walked closer to me and I saw her take a deep breath, then approach the two Pokémon. Linné was hovering just in front of Grovyle, and something was casting blue waves of light over their bodies.

Dazedly, I moved forward, dragging my feet a little, and had to shut my eyes for a moment against the only light I'd seen for a while. But I couldn't keep them shut, and opened them again to see a cascade of cyan-colored light flowing out of a dull gray rock face like a waterfall. Gazing into the bright depths, my eyes began to smart, but I didn't want to look away.

"This is the Passage of Time," Grovyle said. I jolted when he shook my shoulders. Linné raised her arms high, and now I did look away and up at Grovyle when the cyan glow intensified. "Time to go back." Grovyle took a step forward, and Shiloh and I automatically hurried after him, but I halted when a hostile voice sounded from up ahead.

"That's far enough." Grovyle froze, then backed up as Dusknoir's form floated out of the shadows of the overhanging cliffs surrounding the Passage of Time. He held out his arms, and I took a step back, then shot a panicked glance towards Shiloh. Her brown eyes were wide with dismay, and she was pressing close to my side. Linné shot back towards us, floating above our heads. Slowly, the Sableye who'd attacked us before materialized out of the darkness as well, but there were only three of them. Then I heard scratching noises and quiet, but menacing, laughter from behind me. I knew then where the other Sableye were, though even if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to turn. Hot fear had stunned me, and I felt like I couldn't move.

"D-D-Dusknoir!" Linné exhaled in shock, her voice trembling. The Ghost Pokémon's single red eye narrowed mirthfully.

"We meet again. It's been too long."

"Dusknoir, you can't stop me," Grovyle growled harshly. "I've escaped you before. I will again." I shuddered when Dusknoir gave a low, dark chuckle.

"On the contrary, Grovyle...this time is different." Grovyle scoffed, raising his arms slightly and widening his stance.

"I don't think so," he told Dusknoir scornfully. "You aren't a match for us."

"I don't know why you wanted to hurt us, Dusknoir," Shiloh challenged with only a slight quake to her tone, "but I won't let you capture us again." I gulped, wanting to say something, but my throat was tight.

"We won't be caught!" Linné declared, now sounding undaunted.

"Normally, you'd be right..." Dusknoir said complacently, "but I was better prepared this time."

"Really?" Grovyle snapped. "More henchman?" Dusknoir gave another unsettlingly calm chuckle and turned on the spot.

"They're here," he said in a menacing drawl, and it looked like he was addressing the Sableye, but they already knew we were here.

Suddenly the air charged with energy, and my body tingled as if a thunderstorm had gathered overhead. The frozen world's silence was shattered with an ear-splitting roar that shook the ground more violently than even the strongest earthquake could. I lost my footing and crumpled to the ground onto all fours as the earth beneath me heaved. Sounds of rock shattering rent the air next, and I curled up and covered my head, some deep instinct taking control of my body.

Another roar made my head throb with pain. The ground quaked and I knew if I'd been standing, I would have been thrown to the ground. I stood when the shaking stopped and glanced up, first in trepidation and then in horror. A dark, looming form was standing on the cliffs directly over the Passage of Time, and as I watched, glowing, scarlet red eyes leered down at me. The glowing eyes illuminated the figure and I made out a four-legged Pokémon with a long, powerful-looking tail, four heavyset limbs, and a long, thick neck with an unsettlingly large head and a strong set of fanged jaws. A light blue spiked fan jutted out from the base of the Pokémon's tail, and spikes surrounded a thick, elongated crest atop its head. A sort of armor-like plate covered its chest, and a deep, red gem was set in the middle of it.

"G-G-G-Grovyle, wh-wha...what…w-who...wh-what i-is th-that?!" Shiloh asked in a voice shaking so much with fright that I could barely understand her.

"That's...Primal...Dialga," Grovyle replied in a raspy whisper. I stared at him and saw that his eyes were tightly closed. "We...we're done for."

"M-my dear...G-Grovyle..." Linné stammered, her voice quaking in dismay.

"It's over," Grovyle groaned through clenched teeth. "If it were just Dusknoir and the Sableye, we'd have a chance. But Dialga...he controls time. We can't escape with him here." His eyes flashed yellow as they opened and gazed down at me. He had a pained, distressed look in his eyes that stuck anything I wanted to say in my throat. He was saying that we were trapped.

"Dusknoir, please!" Shiloh had stepped forward and was shouting at Dusknoir in a wrenching voice both pleading and furious. "You can't do this! You can't want the world to be this way!"

"Be silent," Dusknoir growled threateningly.

"No!" Shiloh's voice came out in a furious scream. "Why are you doing this? You were kind to us; you even saved our lives!"

"Shiloh, it's alright...come here." Linné floated down close to her, putting a small hand on her head, while Grovyle raised his head and marched towards Dusknoir a couple steps. Glaring at the ghost-type resolutely, he took a breath.

"If you stop us, Dusknoir," he growled resolutely, "then you haven't won. I wasn't doing all of this alone."

"No?" Dusknoir asked with an amused, dark chuckle.

"I wasn't alone when I set out to stop the planet's paralysis. I had a partner." Dusknoir crossed his arms and shook his head slowly, then scrunched his eye like he was about to laugh.

"Who was this partner, Grovyle?" Dusknoir challenged, not sounding worried or even intimidated. Grovyle met Dusknoir's gaze levelly and his eyes glared confidently through the darkness. "Would you mind telling me more? A name, for instance?"

"Why ask?" Grovyle demanded furiously, but his eyes suddenly softened, though there was still determination in them. "He was my most important friend...one I'd known for a long time." Shiloh and Linné were listening with uneasy expressions; the Celebi in particular seemed unhappy. Grovyle paused, then turned his gaze down to me. "Gale. You have the same name as my partner." We stared at each other for a second longer, and then Grovyle lifted his head and faced Dusknoir again. "You know, Linné." The Celebi nodded tightly, arms wrapped around her body. Her clear green eyes were sorrowful.

"Something attacked you," she murmured. "I saw it while I was time traveling…but I couldn't stop it."

"We got separated afterward," Grovyle clarified. "Gale couldn't understand us, but I managed to use runes to tell him about the Time Gears and what had to be done." Grovyle bared his teeth at Dusknoir. "It's too late for me, but Gale's out there somewhere." His mouth turned up in a grimly contented smirk. "He'll put things right." There was a tense pause, during which Dusknoir didn't say anything. Grovyle turned towards Shiloh and me. He smiled bitterly. "Shiloh, Gale…you kept up well. I'm sorry things ended this way."

"It's not your fault," Shiloh told him quickly, shaking her head. "But listen! We can still get out of this!" A sharp laugh from Dusknoir made her jump. The laugh was so strange, so wild and triumphant that I felt a shiver race through my whole body. My heartbeat was quickening. Something about what Grovyle had said was making me remember something...the important thing I'd wanted to remember all this time...

"What's so funny?" Grovyle shouted. "What's the matter with you?"

"Your friend's name is Gale, correct?" Dusknoir chortled, throwing his hands up into the still air. I backed away when he pointed at me with a sinister glint in his bright red eye. "And this Treecko just happens to be named Gale as well! Isn't that odd?"

"What are you saying?" Grovyle demanded. "Talk sense!"

"You never thought that it was too big a coincidence?" Dusknoir drawled with a sneer in his voice. "Here's something that may interest you." He held something up in his hand, a tiny white object, and it was too dark to really make out any details. I squinted at it, and a moment later I realized what it was: a picture.

"That's Gale and me," Grovyle announced harshly. "And his family. Where did you get that?" I clenched Grovyle's wrist urgently.

"That's mine!" I told him.

"What?!" Grovyle turned and grabbed my shoulders so hard that I winced and gave an involuntary whine of pain. "Yours?"

"I found it on the beach near the Guild and I kept it with me." I hesitated and heard a laugh from Dusknoir.

"Why, Gale?" He asked thoughtfully. "Because you like collecting washed-up junk? Or because this picture is of a human family?" Grovyle was staring at me with a dismayed and confused expression. "You used to be human."

"A human?" Grovyle echoed.

"Y-yeah," I whispered.

"Yes, Gale used to be human," Dusknoir put in laughingly. "Not just _a_ human, mind." He brandished the photograph. "This very one!"

"But…why…what do you mean?" I asked faintly, shaking my head in shock. "I-it's a mistake."

"There's no mistake," Dusknoir insisted while the Sableye began crowding in on us. "When I found you with Grovyle that day, I knew you had to be helping him find the Time Gears. I memorized your face then." His eye narrowed as if he were smirking. "Even though you were older when I first saw you, I knew that the child in the picture was you."

"We were right, Gale!" Shiloh gasped. "It was you!"

"You're...Gale?" Grovyle asked, looking stunned. "All this time you were right here?"

"I attacked you," Dusknoir growled threateningly, "but you managed to get away."

"Y-you've got it wrong," I insisted. My legs were shaking hard. "I can't remember anything."

"Ah, that...that proved to be fortuitous for me." Dusknoir chuckled lowly. "Something happened to you, Gale, when you were going through the Passage of Time, and you lost your memory. When you met me, even though you were uneasy around me, I could tell you had no idea who I was." I swallowed heavily. "It was simple to make you and Shiloh believe me."

"You can't be serious," Shiloh said disbelievingly, her brown eyes stretched wide.

"I am," Dusknoir told her smugly. "I wouldn't have cared if the Luxio Tribe finished you off, but I helped you so you would believe I was on your side."

"But you aren't!" Shiloh growled, shaking a fist. "You really did lie!" I shook my head, abruptly snapping out of my shock.

"You tricked me!" I yelled, my fear replaced by anger. "You tried to kill us!"

"It had to be done," Dusknoir said simply. In a quick motion, he grasped the picture tightly and ripped it right down the middle, then released it and let the pieces spiral to the ground. Dusknoir turned and floated towards the Sableye. I weakly took a couple steps forward, reaching out towards the torn picture on the ground. I held the two pieces together and stared at the child and Treecko in the picture. Grovyle and me. My eyes started to burn. I'd had visions of Grovyle and I playing together and having Grovyle taken away from me when he'd been a Treecko, but I hadn't been able to figure everything out in time.

"These are my parents." I rose to my feet and looked back at Grovyle, who was looking at me with a look of disbelief. "And that's you." His paws were clenching and unclenching, and his yellow eyes were locked on me. Shiloh was standing with her mouth half open and Linné was hovering in the air, her antennae drooping, while she looked dejectedly at me.

"I wondered," she said in a croaky whisper. "I recognized you even though you looked different."

"Do you understand now?" I turned slowly and met Dusknoir's scarlet eye, feeling a sense of bewilderment and desperation. "You've failed."


	3. Time

**Things have been busy lately, but I had this chapter written up and waiting. Thanks for reading!**

**I don't own Pokémon or anything; I'm just happy to write about them. I'm also a Digimon fan, though. ;)**

* * *

**Time**

Dusknoir gestured to the Sableye lurking around him. "Your effort was admirable, but I can't let you live."

Suddenly I was grabbed and yanked backwards; Shiloh was gripping me tightly with both arms. "Listen to me. We can still do something."

"No, we can't," Grovyle muttered, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. "We're through. We can't reach the Passage of Time with Dialga there." Shiloh released me and raised her voice angrily.

"You've worked so hard to get this far, Grovyle!" She exclaimed, and I gazed dumbly over at her. "We all have. We can't give up!"

"What should we do?" I asked quietly, my head still full of the realization that I was Grovyle's human friend, the one he'd talked about earlier. There were a few more jumbles of memories coming back now. I'd been afraid of Duskull from the moment I'd seen him at the bank in Treasure Town. It had been because Dusknoir had attacked Grovyle and me. "Are you really going to kill us?" I asked Dusknoir, but he didn't answer. His lone eye shone a bright red. Suddenly I felt a surge of panic and tensed my legs to run.

"Gale!" Shiloh's voice yelled right next to me and I jumped. "Listen to me," she said in a softer tone, her eyes bright with determination. "It's going to be alright. I promise." She gave me a little push towards Grovyle and Linné, and I stared at them.

_Grovyle and I are friends,_ I thought slowly._ We tried to fix time together. Linné helped us escape from Dusknoir then._

"Grovyle?" I spoke up. We stared at each other for a moment. "We've got to escape."

"That's right!" Shiloh stated firmly. She boldly approached Linné, who floated down and listened intently as Shiloh began speaking in an undertone. I moved closer, glancing left and right at the Sableye, whose eyes were gleaming as they reflected the light of the Passage of Time. I slipped the torn halves of the picture into my satchel and held it tightly to my side. "Could we get to the Passage of Time by time traveling?"

"It won't be easy with Dialga here," Linné hissed in a whisper. "He controls time, so he'll stop me right away!"

"It just has to be for a moment!" Shiloh exclaimed urgently. "If you can time travel right to the Passage of Time, we can run the rest of the way!" Linné's expression tightened with resolve and she nodded.

"I'll give it a try! Get close, everyone." I quickly moved closer to Shiloh and Linné, then looked around at Grovyle. He looked down at me, and I gazed back.

"If we don't make it…" He began, but I interrupted.

"Don't think about it," I told him, feeling a little of my fear ebb away. "You told Shiloh and me that before." Grovyle stared at me for a moment; then he nodded.

"Here we go!" Linné cried. She raised her arms and clapped her hands together; a flash of light surrounded us. For an instant, I felt like I was falling forward and lost track of where everyone was, but just as suddenly a cracking sound filled the air and I thudded to the cold ground on my stomach. The glowing Passage of Time was flickering just over my head and I leapt to my feet, glancing around. Shiloh, Grovyle and Linné were nearby, swiftly getting to their feet.

"Hurry! Run!" Shiloh yelled, and I scrambled towards the Passage of Time, then stopped and glanced at Linné, who was hovering over the glowing blue portal.

"Get going!" She cried. "I'll be fine! I'll hold Dusknoir off!"

"Gale, let's go!" Grovyle urged firmly. "Trust her!" I saw Linné nod, and then I was running with Grovyle and Shiloh for the Passage of Time.

"Kill them!" I heard Dusknoir roar, and glanced over my shoulder. The Sableye were advancing on us, but Linné was barring the way, her arms outstretched.

"Jump!" Grovyle shouted, grabbing my paw. I clutched Shiloh's paw and jumped at the same instant she did. Dialga's roar echoed above us but the noise was cut off as the three of us entered the portal. My stomach leapt as I began to feel like I was falling, and bright sparks of light flashed around me. I could still make out Shiloh and Grovyle, but we'd lost our grip on each other.

_I remember this now! _I thought in awe. _Grovyle and I did this not too long ago! And then something attacked us but...what? _Shiloh yelped in alarm from somewhere behind me and I tried to turn and see her, but suddenly a painful snap filled my head and I gripped it tightly, and realized I was having a dizzy spell. Light filled my eyes but instead of seeing a vision I started to feel drowsy. My vision and hearing faded out and the bright colors of the Passage of Time faded completely.

A gentle rushing noise filled my head, then ebbed away, only to sound again a few moments later. Warmth surrounded me, and when I opened my eyes, I saw a yellow-orange glow coloring the ground and also shining through iridescent spheres that were drifting slowly through the air.

_They're bubbles. _Groaning softly, I pushed myself up and stared around the area. _It's the beach outside Treasure Town! We're back!_

"Shiloh!" I called, leaping up. "Grovyle!" I darted across the sand, then caught sight of Grovyle lying facedown in the sand nearby. Rushing over, I knelt and began shaking his shoulders. Almost right away he let out a moan and stirred, lifting his head and glancing around weakly.

"Who's that?" He murmured, eyes opened only halfway.

"Gale!" I exclaimed in relief, holding his arms and trying to pull him up. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," he grunted, pushing my arms away as he sat up and shook his head a couple times. "How are you?"

"Great, but I don't know where Shiloh is." Leaving him, I rushed around the beach and saw a figure lying half in and half out of the surf. Getting closer, I knew it was Shiloh, so I ran to her as fast as I could and began shaking her. "Shiloh?" I asked worriedly when she didn't respond. "Can you hear me?" Footsteps crunched in the sand and I turned to see Grovyle standing over me, looking down at Shiloh.

"Let me see," he said, and I got out of the way, watching anxiously as he carefully cradled her in his arms. He pressed his head to her chest, then hovered a paw over her mouth. "She'll be fine, but we should take her somewhere safe." He shot me a serious glance. "Do you know somewhere we could go? Somewhere we won't attract attention?"

"A friend of mine has a house nearby. His name's Jasper." Grovyle shook his head as he picked Shiloh up and put her over his shoulder.

"We shouldn't go into town."

"I'll go first and see if anyone is around," I said, and Grovyle nodded. "If there are Pokémon there, we'll go into the beach cave." I ran off towards town, and paused for a moment to glance carefully around. I didn't see anyone, and it would be a clear run to Jasper's house. The sun was almost below the horizon, and it was quickly getting dark. Everyone had probably turned in for the evening. I could imagine the Guild members happily eating dinner, but I shook the thought away and ran back to Grovyle and Shiloh. "The town's empty. Everyone's finished work for the evening." Grovyle lifted Shiloh up carefully.

"Will your friend trust me?" I hesitated.

"I think he'll believe us." Grovyle frowned.

"You think?" He repeated doubtfully, narrowing his eyes.

"He will," I corrected myself, though knew all we had to tell him wouldn't be easy to understand. "He'll want to help." Grovyle was quiet for a few moments, and I bit my lip nervously. He met my eye and gave a short nod.

"Let's go, then." Grovyle walked behind me, and when I looked back at him, I saw he was glancing around steadily. "We should hurry in case someone comes along."

"Right," I said, quickening my pace. Soon enough we'd made it through Treasure Town and to Jasper's house. I took a breath, then urgently began to knock on the Psyduck's front door. "Jasper? You there?" Seconds passed and there was no answer. A sharp nudge to my ankle almost made me leap out of my skin, and I whipped around to see Grovyle staring down the path.

"Is that your friend?" He asked firmly, and I ran down the path to see who it was. A relieved smile spread across my face. Jasper was watching Kit as the little Pidgey hopped along in front of him. The recently-hatched Pokémon was bigger than when I'd seen him last, and I wondered how long it had been. It had been near impossible to tell how much time had passed in the future world, but it felt like years since I'd seen Jasper last.

"Gale?!" Jasper exclaimed in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Where have you been?" He suddenly stared past me, and his beak dropped open. "Grovyle?! Gale, he's got Shiloh!" He suddenly glared at me.

"It's okay! He's helping us!" I approached him and looked straight into his eyes. "He won't hurt us." _Well, not because he wants to, _I mentally corrected myself, glad that Shiloh and I were on Grovyle's side now.

"Oh, that's alright then!" Jasper snapped, shaking his head. "Put Shiloh down!" I clenched my fists as Jasper growled and began approaching us threateningly.

"Jasper, he's helping us!" I held out my arms and intercepted Jasper, managing to shove him back a bit. "Believe me, if he had wanted to try something, he would have. He's the reason that Shiloh and I were able to get back at all." Jasper gave me a shove and I stumbled backward, almost falling. Jasper didn't seem convinced but he wasn't moving. "I'll explain, but we really need your help now. Alright?" Jasper lowered his shoulders and sighed.

"Fine," he said, approaching his house and opening the door. "Come inside." I sighed in relief and looked at Grovyle, who relaxed just a bit and followed Jasper into his house. Kit stayed behind and I glanced down at him. I stepped aside, waiting for him to enter the house.

"Coming?" After a pause, the Pidgey nodded and hopped ahead of me through Jasper's door. I glanced around, then headed after him and shut the door quietly behind me. It was a tad crowded in Jasper's house, but nothing to really complain about. Grovyle set Shiloh gently down on a bed and faced Jasper and me.

"You've been gone for days, Gale," Jasper said reluctantly, crossing his arms. "You and Shiloh look terrible. What happened after Dusknoir took you into the Dimensional Hole?"

"Well...he took us to the future, then threw us in jail." Jasper's arms fell to his sides.

"Jail? Why?" I took a deep breath; explaining wouldn't be easy, but I felt a nudge from Grovyle. He gave me a short nod, so I began the explanation.

"This might be hard to understand right away, but it's the truth, and it's important." Jasper nodded, looking a tad skeptical, but thankfully he still appeared receptive.

"Alright."

"Dusknoir told the truth about being from the future," I explained carefully, "but he lied about Grovyle being an outlaw."

"Uh-huh," Jasper murmured, and I grimaced, glancing at Grovyle and worrying I'd explained something badly. But I looked back at Jasper when he spoke up again. "Keep going. Everyone was confused when Dusknoir took you two away." The Psyduck shook his head. "What _was_ his deal?" I hesitated for a moment.

"Dusknoir took Shiloh and me to the future," I explained, "and the planet was paralyzed. Time had stopped everywhere."

"Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie put all the Time Gears back," Jasper said in confusion, and looked at Kit with a worried expression. "Dusknoir said that would put everything back to normal, but time is still stopping, and the lakes are still frozen."

"Doesn't that make it clear, then, that Dusknoir lied?" Grovyle spoke up matter-of-factly, and Jasper clenched his paws and shot Grovyle an angry look, then let out a sigh.

"What else happened while you were in the future?" Jasper questioned, looking at me sympathetically. "It looks like Dusknoir gave you a hard time." I turned and met Grovyle's eyes; he nodded his head once, his expression firm.

"That might be even harder to believe," I mumbled, then tried to speak steadily. "Remember those Sableye? They're Dusknoir's followers, and he told them to get rid of us, but Grovyle helped us escape."

"He tried to kill you?" Jasper exclaimed in a bewildered rush, and suddenly his expression became furious as he looked at Shiloh, who still hadn't woken up yet. Kit chirped quietly and pressed up against Jasper's side. "So that's why she's like this..."

"No," I answered quickly, hoping he'd calm down. "A friend of Grovyle's healed us after we escaped from Dusknoir, so we got out of that alright. It happened when we were coming back here."

"Who is your friend?" Jasper asked cautiously, looking at Grovyle.

"She's a Celebi, and is the one who helped us escape through time," he replied. "She has the ability to time travel."

"Celebi?" Jasper echoed, sounding puzzled. "I've never heard of a Pokémon like that…"

"She keeps to herself," Grovyle told him, arms crossed. "And for a good reason. Dusknoir's after her as well."

"What is Dusknoir really trying to do?" Jasper questioned. "Why did he capture you and Shiloh?" Grovyle and I exchanged glances, and I heard Jasper sigh. "This is also going to be complicated, isn't it?" He shook his head and held up his arms, chuckling a bit. "Let's hear it, then."

"You know that I can't remember anything about myself," I began, and Jasper nodded. "That's not the whole story about me. The truth is...I'm really a human, and I'm from the future."

"You're a...human?" He repeated blankly, obviously having expected something else. "You're kidding."

"No," I told him plainly. "Grovyle and I both come from the future, and we were both looking for Time Gears so we could stop the planet from being paralyzed."

"And...what does that have to do with Dusknoir arresting you?" Jasper questioned skeptically, staring at me with a mixture of frustration and curiosity.

"He doesn't want the future to change," Grovyle stepped up and took over the explanation. "He'll try to stop us at any cost."

"Where is he now?" Jasper asked warily, looking at Kit with a clouded expression as he hugged the Pidgey closer to him.

"Still in the future, if we're lucky," Grovyle answered darkly. "But it's just a matter of time until he shows up again."

"How do I know you're telling the truth about being human?" I looked at Grovyle and he inclined his head once. Without a word I took the torn picture halves out of my satchel and held them out to Jasper. He gave me a wary look, then studied the torn picture halves a moment before he held them together. "What is this?"

"It's a picture of Grovyle, me and my family," I answered quietly. Leaning closer, I pointed to the Treecko, then to my child self. "That's Grovyle, before he evolved, and that's me when I was a kid. The other two humans are my parents." I sighed, wondering if I could fix the ripped picture. "Dusknoir stole it, and he tore it." Jasper looked up and then back at the picture a couple times.

"I still don't know if that's you, Gale, but the Treecko looks a little like Grovyle."

"You think?" I wondered, gazing at the picture. "I can't tell Pokémon apart at all."

"That sounds like a human thing," Jasper muttered, narrowing his eyes.

"If I hadn't known I was really human," I went on, "then I would have thought I was the Treecko, instead of the kid." Jasper glanced up again with a wondering expression.

"How _did_ you know?"

"When I first came here," I explained, "it was the first thing in my head. I'm a human. Being a Pokémon didn't feel right." Jasper handed the torn picture back to me and I returned it to my satchel.

"What are you going to do now?" He asked, holding up his arms and giving me a puzzled, worried look. "Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf put the Time Gears back."

"We're going to collect them again," Grovyle announced firmly. "Otherwise, time will never be restored."

"Are you heading back to the Guild now?" Jasper asked, then shook his head. "Never mind. Everyone would have a fit if they saw Grovyle..." He trailed off, frowning. "But maybe they'd believe you. I don't know."

"We'll have to convince them that Dusknoir was lying," I said. "You said that they were confused about what he'd done."

"They were all really worried." Jasper glanced around at Shiloh. "There was no reason for him to take you away."

"Let's not visit the Guild right away," Grovyle murmured.

"Right," I agreed. "I want to wait until Shiloh wakes up." Jasper patted Kit gently, then headed towards the door.

"I'm going to go get some food. You all look hungry, and I need to give Kit his breakfast anyway."

"Get some things from storage," I told him. "Auntie might be in town now." Jasper nodded.

"Got it. Be right back." Kit hopped after Jasper quickly, chirping happily, and once the two were gone I sat down near Shiloh and stared at her, hoping she'd wake up soon.

"Gale," Grovyle said, and I stood and looked at him. "I can't believe you're the same Gale."

"Me neither," I said emphatically. "I can't remember much. I've only had some visions and dreams about when I was a human."

"Do you remember them?" Grovyle questioned, and I nodded, then thought hard for a moment. Eventually the dream came back to me.

"I remember one...my mom—I think—was yelling at me. I'd done something...gone somewhere without her knowing, and she was mad." Grovyle crossed his arms and frowned.

"I remember that." He sighed. "When you were little, we explored a lot. One day, we were exploring around Fallabor—that's where your family used to live—and we fell in a hole. Diglett leave holes in the ground when they look for food. You got knocked out, and the pit was too deep for me to climb out. That was when Linné showed up. She was able to carry me out, but not you. She said she had something to tell me, but I wanted to help you first. I got your parents, and they followed me and got you out. You were fine, but your parents kept me away from you for a few days. That was when I left to find Linné."

"That's how you met her..." I said, listening in wonder. "What did she tell you?" Grovyle closed his eyes briefly, then looked intently at me.

"She told me that she'd sensed a problem with time's balance. She told me all about the Time Gears, about Dialga…and how the Time Gears could be returned to Temporal Tower." He paused, looking distant. "She also told me that she knew you and I were the ones who would save the planet from being paralyzed...and that your ability would help."

"The Dimensional Scream...right?" I asked curiously, my heart beating faster, and Grovyle nodded.

"That's right. That's how we first found the Time Gears." A faint smile appeared on his face. "We explored all over Hoenn looking for them, and found them thanks to you and Linné. She had a Time Gear fragment that showed you where they were, and you told me."

"So that's why!" I burst out eagerly, then cringed and lowered my voice. "I recognized some places during the expedition, and thought I'd seen the Time Gear at Fogbound Lake before."

"Even though you'd lost your memories," Grovyle explained, "there were still things that reminded you of everything that had happened." He was still smiling a bit. "I wanted to find you, but knew I had to keep looking for the Time Gears." I stared at him, unsure of what to say.

"And look what I did." Guilt suddenly crashed down on me, and I couldn't meet Grovyle's eyes. "I forgot you and made you get captured. And the Time Gears have all been put back."

"Listen, Gale," Grovyle said, stepping closer and gripping my shoulders. Grovyle lowered his head for a moment and sighed. "Something attacked us in the Passage of Time, and you protected me. I think that's why you lost your memory." He gave a slight chuckle. "When we first began looking for the Time Gears, you were too young to know what was going on, but you seemed to have fun anyway, even though your parents got angry at you for always wandering off." I shook my head, and Grovyle suddenly looked a little pensive. "When I met you years later, you weren't as adventurous as you had been."

"I wonder why," I murmured, and Grovyle sighed.

"It was because of those visions," he explained with a stoic expression. "Your parents thought something was wrong with you…and thought I was causing the problem." I snapped my head up and stared at Grovyle.

"They thought the visions were because of you?"

"Yes...and they weren't wrong." Grovyle sat down next to me. "The Dimensional Scream only activates when you have someone that you trust. First it was me...and then it was Shiloh. It's easy to see that you two work well together."

"But you weren't with me when I was older," I mumbled. "I still had visions."

"It could have been because of the friends you made after I was gone."

"Oh." I lowered my head, unable to remember them. "I didn't want anyone in the Guild to know, but Dusknoir told them about my visions." At the mention of the ghost Pokémon, Grovyle narrowed his eyes, but continued without switching the topic.

"Shiloh didn't seem to have a problem with the visions," he noted calmly, "from what I could see."

"She doesn't mind...at least, not anymore, I think." I crossed my arms. "At first she was kind of scared, but...maybe she got used to them." I glanced at Shiloh. "She said she wouldn't ever tell anyone, and she said that she'd watch out for me."

"That must be why," Grovyle said, and I looked at him, puzzled. "You were in a strange world, had lost your memory, and didn't know anyone," he clarified, gazing at Shiloh thoughtfully. "She supported you, so you must have begun to trust her right away."

"She thinks that my memories will all come back," I said, "and I hope she's right. I want to remember everything." I paused, thinking hard. "But right now, the Time Gears are important."

"We'll go find them again," Grovyle stated. "When Shiloh wakes up, I'll explain what's going on." Suddenly, Shiloh stirred and moaned, shifting in the straw bedding. I turned and leaned closer.

"Shiloh, can you hear me? Are you feeling okay?" Shiloh opened her brown eyes that were dim with fatigue.

"Hey, Gale." She sat up gradually and glanced around. "Where am I?"

"Jasper's house," I told her. "We ended up on the beach after going through the Passage of Time, then came here." She stretched her arms and blinked a couple of times, then smiled.

"Remember when I found you?" She asked, and I nodded. "It was hard for you for a while, but I think we could pass you off as a real Treecko."

"I'm not so sure," I said with a chuckle. Shiloh's smile vanished.

"What happened to your picture?"

"I still have it," I said, patting my satchel. "But the most important thing is that we're alive." Shiloh began to stand up, a little shakily, so I held out both arms and helped her get up. "That's all because of you, Shiloh."

"That's right," Grovyle murmured, stepping closer. "How were you able to figure out a plan?" I glanced up at Grovyle and saw his jaw clench. "I admit that I'd given up."

"We'd done so much, and still had so much left to do." Shiloh rubbed her head, grimacing a bit. "I couldn't stand to give up." Shiloh looked back and forth from me to Grovyle. "And you two had just found each other again. I didn't want everything to be over." She shook her head and swayed a little; I quickly steadied her. "Thanks. I'm pretty tired."

"We should get some rest," Grovyle said. "We're going to start collecting the Time Gears tomorrow." Shiloh perked up slightly, looking eager but a little anxious at the same time.

"You're sure that once the Time Gears are back at Temporal Tower, all of time will go back to normal?"

"I'm sure," Grovyle responded. "It's going to be fine. We just need to do what we can now" He frowned. "We should lay low for a while, though. It wouldn't be good if anyone discovered that I was back."

"Alright," I said, and Grovyle looked at me for a second, then became serious. "The same goes for you two. Everyone thinks we're still gone."

"I know where we can go," Shiloh announced brightly. "No one will find us. I'll take you there now."


	4. Cherish

**I don't own Pokémon games, including the dialogue from the games that I include in the story, or the Pokémon franchise. I just write about them. Thank you for reading!**

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**Cherish**

The three of us whirled quickly when the front door opened, but it was Jasper and Kit. Jasper held an armful of apples and gummies, while Kit was clasping a light blue gummi in his beak.

"Shiloh!" He chirped, dropping the gummi as he hopped towards her. Once he was close enough, he spread his wings and wrapped them around Shiloh's middle. "I missed you."

"Hey! Look who can talk!" Shiloh exclaimed with a grin as she hugged Kit back. "I missed you too."

"He started talking a lot recently." I glanced at Kit and tried to approach him slowly with an outstretched paw, but he hopped backwards and shook his head.

"No!"

"Hmm," I muttered, giving a short laugh.

"Around Pokémon he likes, at least," Jasper said, rubbing his neck while looking uncomfortably at me. "Sorry."

"I don't mind," I told him, then looked at Kit and smiled, causing the Pidgey to narrow his eyes, but look at me with a slightly more friendly expression a moment later. "He's little. But maybe even when he grows up he won't like me."

"You got a lot of food, Jasper," Shiloh noted, moving forward stiffly to help him carry the apples and gummies. I walked closer to Jasper and held out my arms.

"I'll help too," I offered, knowing she was exhausted. We'd been chased around by Dusknoir and his Sableye for what seemed like forever.

"Half of it's for you," Jasper responded. "Go ahead and take some." I took two apples and gave one to Grovyle and then one to Shiloh. She gave me a look, then took a blue Gummi from Jasper and set it inside her satchel. Jasper pulled an apple out of his satchel. He looked at Shiloh and gave her a worried look. "You feeling alright, Shiloh?"

"Fine, just tired." She smiled faintly. "Thanks."

"What are you all going to do?" Jasper questioned, looking uneasy.

"Tomorrow we'll start searching for the Time Gears," Grovyle explained immediately.

"We shouldn't stay here, Jasper," Shiloh explained a little guiltily. "If we do, we'll be found, and probably get you in trouble."

"Do you have somewhere else to stay?" Jasper asked quickly. "I guess you're not going back to the Guild."

"No, we're not. I have somewhere we can stay." Shiloh smiled reassuringly. "I'll come and tell you where it is later." Jasper gave a nod.

"Alright, then...take care of yourselves." He glanced at me briefly, then looked back at Shiloh. "If you need help, come and get me."

"Thanks, Jasper." Shiloh headed for the door, and I followed closely behind her. I could hear Grovyle's footsteps behind me and turned to look at him as we walked, but couldn't think of much to say. "It's not too far, but we should hurry, since we have to walk through town." Grovyle and I picked up the pace and a minute later Shiloh stopped on a cliff overlooking the sea. I hung back, noticing that it was even darker now, making it hard to see very far. There weren't many landmarks around, as far as I could tell. Suddenly Shiloh approached a mat of leaves I hadn't noticed and stooped over. She tugged at it and eventually dragged it across the ground. Realizing I should help her, I rushed forward and grabbed the leaf mat and began pulling. Soon I noticed that some stairs that had been shaped from dirt and led down into a hole. "See?" Shiloh asked proudly. "They lead to my secret base. I made a sheet of leaves to hide it." She eagerly led the way down the stairs and I followed, then glanced back and saw Grovyle pulling the leaves back over the hole before he descended the stairs as well.

"This is cool," I exclaimed, staring around at the large underground room. It had two piles of straw in the middle, as well as a little pile-up of rocks that formed a basin. Sparkling water was running from a hole in the wall into the basin.

"I like it." Shiloh moved slowly around in a circle, observing the room. "It was my home before I joined the Guild. I'm glad that no one has found it."

"Clever," Grovyle murmured. "This place is a crevice in the sea cliff, isn't it?" Shiloh nodded brightly.

"It's in the side of Sharpedo Bluff, and it's hard to spot."

"We'll really be safe here until we've found all the Time Gears," I sighed, feeling relieved. "Dusknoir might not even find us here."

"About the Time Gears..." Grovyle spoke up, and I faced him and nodded, listening hard. "I have a job for you two."

"What is it?" Shiloh wondered, taking a seat on one of the straw beds. Grovyle frowned and looked like he was thinking hard; finally, he spoke.

"It's not enough just to find the Time Gears," he said with decisiveness, his arms folded tightly. "We need to find a place called the Hidden Land, or we won't be able to return the Time Gears to Temporal Tower."

"Isn't Temporal Tower still around in the future?" Shiloh asked. "We can take them there." Grovyle shook his head.

"It's too dangerous because of Dialga," he reminded. "Also, the path to Temporal Tower began collapsing in the future, and it's frozen that way now. It's impossible to reach."

"So we need to find the Temporal Tower of the past," I said. "Hey…" I exclaimed suddenly. "Did…did you and I go through the Passage of Time when I was human?"

"Yes, we did," Grovyle responded. "If we had just been a little later, then you, me and Linné would have been frozen too."

"So all of the Pokémon are stuck in time, and my family and friends, too?" I asked, biting my lip hard. Grovyle hesitated just for a second.

"Yes….but once we put the Time Gears back into Temporal Tower, everything will be back to normal."

"How do we put the Gears back into the tower?" Shiloh asked, and I nodded, wanting to know the same thing.

"There are six slots in the highest point of the tower," Grovyle explained, "and the Time Gears go there. Linné told me about it." Shiloh yawned, and I couldn't help yawning along with her. "Let's get some rest," Grovyle said. "Tomorrow I'll go to the Eastern Forest and get the Time Gear there."

"What should we do?" I questioned eagerly, wanting to hurry and find the Time Gears and Hidden Land so everything would go back to normal. The faster I did that, the better I'd feel knowing that my family and friends were safe—and not just my human ones, either.

"You two should find out as much information about the Hidden Land as you can," Grovyle stated resolutely. "I suppose you will have to show yourselves in Treasure Town, after all."

"It'll be alright," Shiloh said firmly. "Everyone at the Guild will be able to help. They'll believe us." I nodded, knowing that it was our only option.

"They're sure to want to help stop the Planet's Paralysis," I put in, trusting that they'd be able to believe in Grovyle, too. "That's what the Guild is for, anyway. It's just another mission." Shiloh grinned at me.

"That's right!" She laughed jubilantly. "It's a plan, then!" She moved towards her straw bed and began pulling armfuls of straw up. "I'll make another bed."

"No need," Grovyle said. "I don't mind sleeping on the ground."

"You sure?" Shiloh asked, and the taller Pokémon nodded.

"Yes. But I'm grateful. Thank you." I watched Shiloh hesitatingly curl up on the straw bed and close her eyes. Soon she was breathing steadily, fast asleep. I sat on the other bed and looked at Grovyle.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked him, frowning.

"I'm fine," he told me. "I'm going to stay up for a bit. You need to get some sleep." Grovyle moved towards the stairs and sat down. Slowly I walked towards Grovyle and sat just below him on the steps.

"Grovyle?" He looked steadily at me. "Could you tell me more about what it was like when I was human?"

"There isn't much to tell," Grovyle said with a light shrug, staring down at me with a distant expression. "We didn't have much time together. But I'll tell you all I can."

"I had a vision about you being taken away from me once," I began quietly. "I had it when I found the picture."

"Do you remember that happening?" Grovyle wondered, looking up the stairs. I shook my head.

"Not really," I told him, frowning. "I only know about it because of the vision."

"I remember it," Grovyle muttered. "Your parents probably just wanted to help." He gestured towards me and I followed after him as he ascended the stairs. I watched him sit down near the cliff edge. I started to approach him, but stopped and stared uneasily at him. "What's wrong?"

"The cliff," I mumbled, shaking my head, and heard Grovyle chuckle softly.

"You've always been afraid of heights," he said with a knowing look. I laughed nervously as he stood and approached me. "You lost your memories, but you're still the same." Swallowing, I pressed Grovyle for answers.

"Why do the visions happen?"

"Anything and anyone can trigger the Dimensional Scream," Grovyle began, "as long as there is someone in your life that you trust." I nodded. "Your parents didn't know that. I didn't know what your ability was until Linné told me." Grovyle eyed me carefully, crossing his arms. "The time I started living with you was the time you began developing your Dimensional Scream abilities. Your father found me on the edge of Fallabor Town. I was young, but I remember...the air was hot, there were ashes everywhere…lots of mountains and some volcanoes." He shook his head. "Anyway...your father took care of me, and started letting you take care of me too once I was better."

"Fallabor Town," I muttered, closing my eyes as a sense of familiarity came to me.

"I wasn't supposed to be there," Grovyle said. "I don't know why I was there. I must have been lost."

"My dad helped you...but later he just abandoned you?" Grovyle nodded slowly.

"He took me to a forest near a small town with clean air," he explained, a faraway look in his eyes. "I don't know how far away I was, but I asked Pokémon who lived there, and they told me I was in Verdanturf and that Fallabor Town was far away. I decided to run away and find you, but from what I heard, I was going to be given to a trainer. I didn't stay there long. Eventually I made it back to Fallabor, but when I found your house, you weren't there. Another family had moved in."

"They…they didn't have to get rid of you!" I snapped, and was a bit surprised to hear myself so angry. I didn't remember any of what Grovyle had told me, but it was as if the memories—unclear as though they were—were still bringing out old feelings in me. "They could have done anything else and…and figured out they were wrong."

"They weren't completely wrong." Grovyle paused, then added gruffly, "It's because we were friends that you got visions at all." He smiled. "I wasn't angry for being taken away. I knew I could still find you, and Linné helped me. She said that she travelled through time and found you. She could tell it was you, even though you were older." I clenched my paws.

"I'm glad that we're together," I muttered, "but still...I don't care if my parents were worried. They didn't have to take you away."

"Like I said, I knew they'd do anything to help you," Grovyle reminded me, his faint smirk still in place. "But I'd go to any length to get back to you, and when I finally did, I didn't want to wait for your parents to get back. I convinced you to leave, and then I led you to where Linné was hiding, and after that we went into the Passage of Time." I unclenched my paws and glared at the ground. "Do you remember any of that?"

"It feels familiar...maybe I do, a bit..." I admitted, thinking hard. "I remember...we never had much time together..."

"...But that the lack of time made us cherish the moments we had," Grovyle interjected, and I glanced sharply up at him.

"That's right," I sighed, leaning back onto the grass and gazing up at the darkened sky, which was now beginning to be dotted with stars. Night had crept up without me noticing. The dark of the future world had been unsettling and too quiet, but right now, the dark was comforting. The stars gave off light, and a breeze was blowing, causing the grass to rustle softly. "We spent just a couple days in the future, but it felt like a long time." I picked out a couple familiar stars and eventually Grovyle reclined in the grass as well, having moved away from the cliff. We stayed there, quietly looking up at the sky for a while. "The future should be like this again."

"I won't fail this time," Grovyle spoke up confidently. "I knew what the future would be like if the Planet's Paralysis happened, but seeing it for myself just made me work harder to try and prevent it." He glanced at me. "Oh, Gale…it's good to see you again."

"You, too," I told him softly. "Even if I don't remember everything, I'm sticking with you, no matter what." Grovyle turned away, then glanced back at me. "Tomorrow, Shiloh and I are going to ask the Guild to help us. I'll ask Jasper and Kit to come with us, too. We'll find out about the Hidden Land with everyone's help."

"I'm leaving first thing tomorrow," Grovyle announced, getting. I sat up and clambered to my feet. "I need to start getting the Time Gears back right away." I pulled my satchel off and gave it to him.

"Take this," I said firmly, pushing it into his paws. "It still has a couple Oran and Pecha berries."

"Thank you," Grovyle said, taking the satchel and putting it over his shoulder. "I'll be gone for a week or so. The Time Gears are far away."

"Whenever you need more items, come back to Treasure Town." Grovyle nodded. "We'll have explained to the Guild and everyone in Treasure Town what's going on." I yawned, and Grovyle gave me a little push towards the stairs.

"You need to rest," he stated. "You've been through a lot." I nodded, rubbing my eyes sleepily. He pulled something out of the satchel and handed it to me. "Keep this." It was the two torn halves of the family picture. I stared at it and felt my throat tightening. I swallowed heavily.

"Um…could…could I come with you?" Grovyle was quiet for a moment; I thought he was going to agree for a second, but then he shook his head.

"You need to stay here in Treasure Town with Shiloh," he reminded me softly. "You have something to do, remember?" I nodded, though couldn't help but feel disappointed, though I knew that I wouldn't be able to leave her behind. It'd be like what my parents had done with Grovyle, and if that had made me angry, then I couldn't do it to Shiloh. "I'll be back soon," Grovyle said, and I scuffed my feet against the ground, nodding.

"See you…later," I told Grovyle quietly before turning and heading back to where Shiloh was. I curled up on the remaining straw bed and closed my eyes, thoughts of all that had happened swirling in my head.

When I woke up the next morning, Grovyle was gone. As Shiloh and I walked to Jasper's house, I stared up at the sky, wishing I had woken up earlier. Shiloh knocked twice on Jasper's door and the Psyduck walked out with Kit beside him.

"Ready?" Jasper questioned warily, his arms crossed. I swallowed hard, then turned around and nodded. "You'd better be ready for an uproar."

"Especially from Ran," Shiloh said, lifting her chin and smiling. "Right?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "I'm ready to go." The four of us took the stairs steadily and once we crested the hill I halted and stared at the entrance to the Guild. "I'll do it," I announced, and moved forward to stand over the grate. Balancing on my left foot, I held the other over a gap and was getting ready to call down to Duthie when a shout came from below.

"Whose footprint is it?" Ran hollered, and I threw my paws to my head, wincing.

"It's a Treecko!" Duthie replied. "Ran, it's a Treecko!" He repeated urgently, and suddenly I heard thumping coming from below, and the gate over the entrance suddenly rolled up.

"Heads up, Gale," Jasper cautioned, and I took his advice and hurried away from the entrance. I'd been just in time, because a second later a large group of Pokémon spilled out, with Callo at the front.

"G-G-Gale!" He stuttered in disbelief. "Sh-Shiloh too!" Rin, Phyllo, Simeon, Lysa and Yabi were waiting just behind with looks of relief on their faces. "I c-can't believe you're back!" He crouched on the ground. "I didn't know if I'd ever see you again!" Lysa patted Callo's head gently and smiled.

"Are you alright?" She questioned. "Where did Dusknoir take you?"

"That's right!" Yabi interjected hotly. "And why?"

"You'd better EXPLAIN!" Ran shouted while he stomped his feet. "The Guildmaster wants to see you! So HURRY UP!"

"He hasn't changed, as you can see," Lysa whimpered, holding her head. "We'd better go inside before he yells again." Rin shook his tail and a gentle chiming noise wafted through the air.

"Let's give them some space, everyone," he announced sternly. "We all want to know what happened, but we need to be calm." Shiloh gave him a grateful look.

"Thanks, Rin," she sighed. "It's great to see you all again. We'll explain everything." It took a while for everyone to go down the ladders into the Guild, but eventually we managed, and were standing in front of Wigglytuff's room. Yabi scuttled up and rapped his claw on the door. It opened and Chatot hopped out, followed closely by Wigglytuff.

"They're back, Chatot!" Yabi announced eagerly. "And they're okay!" Chatot flapped his wings wildly, scattering a few feathers, and pushed his way around the Pokémon. "Watch it!" Yabi grumbled.

"Shiloh, Gale…it's good to see you're both well." He folded his wings, calming down a bit, but his eyes were wide with curiosity. "What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," Shiloh replied with a nervous grin. "But we'll tell it." She turned and faced the rest of the Guild members. "It's complicated, and may be hard to believe, but it's the truth." She took a deep breath, then let it out quietly. "It's very important." She spoke deliberately and loudly. "It concerns all of us, and all of the Pokémon in the world." Everyone was dead silent, focusing on Shiloh. Lysa and Callo were nodding their heads slowly. "Gale, Jasper," Shiloh announced, turning towards us. "I'll need your help."


	5. Team

**Whoa, I think I was tired when I wrote this chapter. It had lots of crazy mistakes, half-completed sentences, and weird everything else. Sorry about that! But it should be fixed now. Thank you for reading!  
I don't own the Pokémon games or any dialogue from the Mystery Dungeon series I include in the story. I just like to write Pokémon-related stories.**

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**Team**

"Got it," I said, and Jasper stepped up with a resolute nod. Shiloh started with the explanation, telling them what had happened after Dusknoir had pulled us into the Dimensional Hole.

"We were put in jail, and then taken into a room." I took a deep breath as she spoke. "We found out then that Dusknoir wanted to kill us. He never told us why." The Guild members were pretty calm even with that bit of news hanging in the air, though they all looked incredulous and aghast and began murmuring in disbelief. "Grovyle was in the same situation, too, and it's thanks to him that we're alive." A wave of voices washed over me; Jasper had been right. The Guild members began talking angrily all at once.

"Grovyle?!" Yabi exclaimed furiously, snapping his pincers.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Lysa piped up. Shiloh shook her head and was just opening her mouth to respond when Ran interrupted angrily.

"You met Grovyle?" He demanded, stomping a foot. "What was that no-good Pokémon doing there?" Shiloh faced me and nodded once. I walked past her and took a breath as I faced everyone. I saw then that Wigglytuff was standing at the back, listening quietly with an inquisitive expression in his ice-blue eyes.

"He was a prisoner, the same as us," I began.

"He should have been!" Ran yelled, waving a clenched paw. "But not you!"

"Ran," I said, steeling myself. "You heard from Shiloh that Grovyle helped us escape Dusknoir, the one who captured us." Ran nodded grudgingly, and the others glanced worriedly at each other. "She wouldn't lie to you. You know that." Ran's eyes widened and he lowered his arm.

"I don't understand any of this," Ran said slowly, closing his eyes tightly. I shot a glance at Jasper and he stared back. "But…I do believe you. It's just…hard." Shiloh walked over and patted his shoulders. "Did Dusknoir really do all of that?"

"Yes, he did." Shiloh stepped back and lifted her head. "Grovyle helped us and told us the truth: Dusknoir wasn't trying to protect the Time Gears. He was trying to stop Grovyle, who was really the one trying to restore time."

"Hey, hey, but that's wrong!" Yabi burst out, clacking his pincers. "He stole the Time Gears and made time freeze!"

"Yeah! That's not restoring time!" Ran agreed vehemently, and Shiloh hesitated. I stepped up and nudged her gently. She continued.

"He had to take those Time Gears because he needed to take them to Temporal Tower." Shiloh took a deep breath. "That place controls time, and the Time Gears belong there. In the future, Temporal Tower is destroyed, and the planet is completely paralyzed." I nodded.

"We saw it for ourselves," I stated. "The sun doesn't shine, and everything is cold. Everything's always still because time doesn't move forward anymore."

"Paralyzed?" Callo repeated timidly, his brow creased with anxiety. "But Dusknoir said that if we put the Time Gears back, time would be back to normal."

"And time is still stopping," Lysa added unhappily. "Exploration teams are still finding frozen places and Pokémon."

"So doesn't that mean Dusknoir was wrong?" Duthie wondered, trepidation in his voice.

"Or lying?" Phyllo put in. "I hate to say it, but…heh…why did he pull Shiloh and Gale into the Dimensional Hole, when he only needed Grovyle?"

"Excuse me!" Chatot's voice squawked, and he fluttered his wings. "This is nonsense! Dusknoir is a famous explorer and he has provided valuable advice to the Guild!" He glared sharply at me. "He even saved you and Shiloh, lest you've forgotten. Grovyle is an outlaw, and you want us to believe that he's good?"

"We haven't forgotten that Dusknoir saved us," I countered. "But I've met Grovyle before. Look at this." I pulled out the picture I'd been holding behind my back and set it on the ground, pushing the two pieces together. "We were partners…back when I was human." I pointed to my young self and my parents. "That's me, and these are my parents." Then I pointed to the Treecko. "This is Grovyle, at least before he evolved." I looked up and was met with stares of disbelief, awe and even fear. "I was helping Grovyle look for Time Gears before I came here, because I'm from the future too. We've known each other ever since I was little."

"What?" Lysa whispered, and Callo shrank back. "You know Grovyle?"

"Is that true?" Callo asked in a high voice. "How can that be?" He looked closely at me, his eyes swimming with confusion. "You really are from the future?"

"Grovyle and I were looking for Time Gears so we could restore time and change the future." I gazed at the photo. "Before we got here, though, we were separated and I lost my memories."

"And turned into a Pokémon?" Ran asked, the faintest hint of skepticism apparent in his voice.

"I still don't know how that happened," I admitted, rubbing my neck. "Grovyle told me that something attacked us while we were traveling to the past…I mean, traveling here."

"That could be why," Lysa stated thoughtfully, frowning. "Eek! It definitely could have caused your memory loss."

"He's telling the truth, before anyone asks," Jasper spoke up sharply, approaching me. "It's crazy, but Shiloh wouldn't lie…and Gale's awful at it." I bit back a laugh. Jasper swept his gaze across the group of assembled Guild members. "Phyllo, you noticed that it was strange for Dusknoir to have taken Gale and Shiloh when he was supposed to just arrest Grovyle. And he told us that time would go back to normal once the Time Gears were returned, and it hasn't."

"That's right…" Yabi muttered.

"We're still in danger," Shiloh declared. "This is the biggest mission we've had, so we need your help."

"Come now, hush!" Chatot scolded furiously, his feathers fluffing up in anger. "How can we believe all of this?"

"Chatot, I believe them." Callo stalked up to Chatot and looked him straight in the eye. "They're our friends. That's why we can trust them."

"Yes, Chatot," Lysa said encouragingly. "They're our friends and Guild mates, and all of us need to support each other."

"Isn't that what the Guild is for, Chatot?" Rin asked softly, smiling. "To help others."

"I wasn't sure at first," Ran began, looking a bit sheepish, "but Shiloh and Gale don't have any reason to make something like this up."

"That's right, Chatot," Yabi added firmly. "So give them a chance!" Wigglytuff strode up and nudged Chatot in the back.

"You believed in them all along, didn't you, Chatot?" He asked with a warm smile.

"You did?" Jasper asked skeptically. "Even though you were so sure they were lying earlier?"

"Well…if I said I believed them," Chatot explained, "then you would have just agreed with me." He let his feathers lie flat and looked sheepishly around at everyone. "It was better if you decided on your own to trust Shiloh and Gale."

"Really?" Ran asked doubtfully, looking a little annoyed. The Guild members began murmuring to themselves.

"Anyway, Shiloh and Gale," Wigglytuff announced brightly, smiling, "you have our support. What do we need to do now?"

"We need to find the Hidden Land," Shiloh told everyone, and they nodded seriously. "We have to take the Time Gears there." A thought struck me and I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"Grovyle is going to collect the Time Gears again," I realized, hoping he hadn't gone to those places first, "but Mesprit, Uxie and Azelf will try to stop him."

"That's right!" Shiloh exclaimed in dismay. "What can we do?"

"We need to get word to them that Grovyle is on our side," Wigglytuff stated. "We'll send teams to those areas so we can explain to Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit." He glanced around with a smile. "Who wants to volunteer? We need fast Pokémon." Duthie cried out.

"My dad and I should go! We can travel underground faster than overground!" Simeon nudged Duthie.

"Great idea, son," he said proudly, and Duthie giggled.

"Chatot and I will go as well," Wigglytuff said, giving Duthie and Simeon a look of appreciation. "The rest of you should try to find out all you can about the Hidden Land."

"We should go right now!" Yabi exclaimed, jumping in place. Rin hovered over towards us.

"Shiloh, Gale," Wigglytuff said once most of the Guild members had left, "do you remember Torkoal, the town elder?" Shiloh and I glanced at each other, then nodded.

"Yeah," Shiloh told him. "Why?"

"He knows a lot about the world," Wigglytuff stated, "and he might know something about the Hidden Land."

"We'll go there right now, then!" Shiloh burst out urgently. "Thank you, Guildmaster!"

"Don't forget to take enough supplies with you," Chatot reminded.

"We won't," I said, then looked at Jasper. "Thanks, Jasper. We couldn't have done it without you."

"I want to help as much as you," he sighed, scuffing his webbed feet on the floor. "I want to come with you, but I can't leave Kit."

"I'll stay," Kit chirped suddenly. "I'll wait for you." Jasper turned in surprise and knelt before the Pidgey chick.

"You'll be okay?" Kit nodded and bumped his head against Jasper's beak. "Well, alright…but always stay with Rin, okay?" Kit flared his wings and chirped. "Is that alright, Rin?" The Chimecho nodded and smiled happily.

"Alright, dad." Jasper hugged Kit gently and patted the Pidgey's feathered head.

"I'll be back before you know it."


	6. Search

**Thank you for reading. Again, I hope you are enjoying the story.  
****I don't own Pokémon or the games. I just have fun writing Fanfiction.**

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**Chapter Five - Search**

With Jasper leading the way, Shiloh and I were able to avoid the water trap inside waterfall cave this time. He knew of several routes that led to the hot springs, but he said he'd lead us down the quickest and easiest path. I was happy with anything that kept me from nearly drowning. Jasper's way was better because we were in a hurry to find out anything we could about the Hidden Land. I didn't know how much time we had before Dusknoir decided to show up again.

"Ugh," Shiloh muttered suddenly. She was sniffing the air and her face was wrinkled in disgust. "You smell that?" I took a breath through my nose and immediately coughed. A horrible smell was wafting through the cave tunnels.

"I do now," Jasper grumbled. "It's not me."

"I know," Shiloh told him, frowning in disgust. "It smells like sulfur."

"Maybe it's the hot spring?" I suggested, covering my nose, though it didn't help much. Shiloh shook her head rapidly.

"No, but it's similar…it smells like bad cheese, too…and rotting fruit." Shiloh gave a shudder and rubbed her arms. Jasper fanned the air a couple times, then gave up and stopped.

"Well, we're here," Jasper announced, and I shielded my eyes as we stepped out of the darkness of the cave into the bright sunlight. Steam from the springs blanketed the area, and I took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air and warmth. Any other time, it would have been nice to take a rest and soak in the springs, but I couldn't get distracted. I glanced towards the spring, searching for Torkoal. The Piplup and Zangoose from last time were lounging in the pool, but they seemed to be the only ones around besides Torkoal, who was standing on the rocks surrounding the spring. Shiloh waved and called his name. He looked up as we approached and his nose wrinkled up only for a moment before he smiled in recognition.

"Hello there, youngsters!" He greeted cheerily. "It's good to see you again. How have you been?"

"Not bad," Shiloh responded, and I smiled to myself. If we explained, then we'd be here all day. "We have a question for you, Elder." Torkoal nodded. "Have you heard about the Hidden Land?" Torkoal drew himself up and frowned deeply.

"The Hidden Land?" He repeated slowly, and fell silent, looking like he was deep in thought. Finally he spoke again. "I have indeed heard of it."

"Great!" Shiloh exclaimed, and I felt a surge of relief. "Could you tell us about it, please?" Torkoal gazed evenly at her. "Anything you know would be really helpful."

"Very well." Torkoal cleared his throat and took a breath. I heard wet footfalls behind me and glanced up to see the Piplup and Zangoose clambering out of the hot spring. They had expressions of curiosity on their faces. Piplup held up a flipper, apparently shushing me; I nodded, then turned back towards Torkoal. "Few know about the Hidden Land. It's a piece of lore passed down from Pokémon to Pokémon." He paused momentarily, as if hesitating, but continued confidently after that. "The Hidden Land is located somewhere beyond the sea—hidden, of course, so very few Pokémon have seen it. The lore states that only qualified Pokémon are allowed to journey there." Suddenly my heart sank.

"Qualified?" I asked, dismay spiking in my chest. "What qualifications?"

"Well, the qualifications would be…." Torkoal trailed off suddenly, looking to the side. "Hm…what were they, now?" He thought for a few moments, then turned back towards us. "I'm sorry. It's slipped my mind."

"You can't remember?" Jasper asked, brushing past me and approaching Torkoal. "It's very important," he said insistently, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Could you try?" Torkoal lowered his head as if ashamed and shook his head.

"Well…that's easy to say…" Torkoal sighed, then turned away and strode a few steps away from us. He lifted his head and turned back. "Wait! I remember now. You need proof of your qualification. That's it."

"Proof?" Shiloh wondered, crossing her arms tightly. "I wonder what that is. Do you know anything else?" Torkoal thought for a moment, then shook his head slowly.

"I'm afraid not," he stated. "But if I remember anything else, I'll let you know."

"Thank you, Elder," Shiloh breathed gratefully. "You've been a great help."

"Think nothing of it," the Torkoal responded with a kind smile. "Have a safe journey back." I turned and saw the Piplup staring up at me with wide, shining eyes.

"Why do you need to know about the Hidden Land?" She questioned eagerly, clapping her flippers together. "Is something going on?"

"Uh, kind of," I replied, wondering how much detail I could safely give. "But don't worry. It's okay." I smiled at her, hoping I could make it look genuine. It would be bad to make Pokémon worry, and there had to be some way we could find out what the proof was. "Stay with your friend. Stick together, and there's nothing to worry about." The little Piplup bobbed her head energetically and looked up as the Zangoose approached from behind, her rose-colored eyes looking curiously at me.

"We never had a proper introduction," the Zangoose declared. "My name is Tavi, and this is Korora." The Piplup's beak stretched into another smile.

"Elder Torkoal told us about you," Korora giggled. "You're Shiloh," she pointed as she said our names, "you're Jasper, and you're Gale."

"That's right," Shiloh told her, patting the Piplup tenderly on the head. "We've got to go now. But we'll come here again soon." Shiloh turned quickly and Jasper and I had to run to catch up.

"The proof….I hope Torkoal remembers something else about it," I sighed on the way back. "Otherwise, I'm not sure what to do."

"Let's just keep asking around," Shiloh told me firmly. "We can't give up."

"And Torkoal might remember something," Jasper added quickly, glancing back at me with an apprehensive expression. "We'll figure it out." He hurriedly glanced ahead at the path without a word.

"Oh, good…it's that weird smell again," Shiloh grumbled, and I glanced around. Nothing looked to be out of the ordinary. "Let's hurry back," she sighed. "It's making me sick." It didn't take long to head back to Treasure Town; maybe all the running Shiloh and I had done in the future had helped us get a little stronger. Jasper and Shiloh both took deep breaths of air once we returned to town and stopped just below the stone steps that led up to the Guild. "Much better," she said in relief.

"I'm going to go see Kit," Jasper said in a rush. He darted off up the Guild steps without a backward glance.

"He's worried about him," Shiloh noted sadly. "We've got to find the proof and put things right."

"Let's go tell everyone what Torkoal said," I told her hopefully, giving her a little smile. "Maybe they'll know something." Shiloh sighed and nodded once, looking downcast.

"Lysa might, and Wigglytuff could, too." Shiloh perked up a bit and patted me on the back. "Okay then. Let's go." It was a short but tense trek into the Guild, and once we arrived at the main floor, Callo spotted us and gave a cry that gathered everyone closer. I noticed Jasper standing nearby with Kit and as I watched he picked the little Pidgey up and hugged him close.

"Shiloh and Gale are back!" Callo burst out, a huge grin on his face. "What did Elder Torkoal say?" Wigglytuff's door slammed open and Chatot hopped out followed by the light pink Guildmaster. Lysa was trembling slightly but she was smiling, and Ran was waiting beside her with widened eyes. Simeon and Duthie suddenly burrowed up from the ground, causing Yabi and Phyllo to jump out of the way. Rin hovered closer to the ground and smiled. Jasper set Kit down and the two wandered closer to the group and stood quietly.

"Give them some room," Rin said gently, and the Guild members pulled back. Chatot hopped up and lifted his feathered head, looking grave.

"Did Elder Torkoal have any information?" Shiloh cleared her throat and stood up straighter, looking at each Pokémon before she spoke.

"He did," she responded loudly, and an excited murmur spread through the crowd. "He told us that the Hidden Land is beyond the sea, and that to get there, we need to be qualified and have proof of that qualification." There was silence for a few minutes; I glanced around and could tell that everyone was thinking. Callo nudged my leg and I looked at him.

"What was the proof?" He questioned uneasily. "Did the Elder tell you?" I bit my lip hard, knowing there was nothing to do but tell the truth.

"He couldn't remember." Callo lowered his head, looking unhappy. "He said that he'd come and tell us if he remembered anything else."

"Let's ask everyone in Treasure Town," Shiloh announced confidently. "Someone might know something." I looked at her, feeling a strange sensation as she addressed everyone. She was strong; much stronger than I was. Shiloh definitely was the right leader for our exploration team. She may have wanted my help to create an exploration team, but it wouldn't have been possible without her as leader. I felt like I'd become stronger thanks to her.

"Let's do that right now," Lysa said in a rousing tone. She patted Callo's head and he straightened up, smiling at her. Everyone suddenly took off and exited the Guild in a hurry; Duthie and Simeon burrowed back into the ground and were gone in a flash.

"They just left," Chatot muttered, and I looked at him to see that his beak was hanging open. "Without even organizing themselves." I managed not to laugh.

"We're still here," Jasper told him with a crafty smile on his beak. "Organize us if you want." Chatot's beak closed and he fluffed his feathers out.

"Very well," he stated importantly. "You and Shiloh should go into town and ask questions as well. It'd be a good idea to stock up on supplies, too." The colorful bird Pokémon glanced at Jasper and Kit. "You two should stay here and watch the Guild." Chatot gave a long sigh. "It won't do to have the Guild so empty, and there's no telling how long everyone will take in town." I turned and met Shiloh's gaze; she was nodding.

"Ready?" She asked with a broad smile, and I nodded. "Take care of the Guild, you two," she told Kit and Jasper with a wave.

"We will," Jasper responded, waving faintly back. Kit snuggled closer to Jasper, who put an arm around the little Pokémon. I found myself hurrying back towards town, eager to ask some questions. I didn't know how much time we had left to find the Hidden Land, and I was sure Shiloh and Jasper wanted to prevent the dark future as much as I did.


	7. Puzzle

**I don't own Pokémon or the games. I just am lucky to be able to write Fanfiction about them. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Six - Puzzle**

Shiloh was rushing to get back to Treasure Town, so we made it quickly up the ladders and down the Guild's stone steps. A Spinarak was scuttling out of town and I recognized him as Doctor. It was easy to spot him since he was the only Spinarak in town.

"Doctor!" I called, and he stopped abruptly and turned. "It's been a while," I said as I approached him. He tipped his head back to look up at me. Shiloh approached from behind and I looked at her; she had a bright smile on her face.

"It's so good to see you," she said happily. "I feel like it's been ages."

"Things were strange for a while, not having you here," Doctor said, sounding relieved. "Fermant missed you as well, and the Marill brothers were very worried."

"Have they been by today?" Shiloh asked.

"Not that I've seen," Doctor replied. "It's late, so they have probably gone back home. I hear their mother is getting better, so they will probably be able to visit Treasure Town more often."

"That's great!" I said, and grinned. "We'll be able to explore together again." Shiloh glanced at me and nodded, her expression suddenly no-nonsense. She glanced down at Doctor.

"Doctor, have you heard of a place called the Hidden Land?" She asked steadily, and Doctor was quiet as he thought for a moment.

"No, I haven't," he finally responded with a shake of his head. "Do you need to go there?"

"Yes, we do," Shiloh answered gravely. "It's important. Everyone in the Guild is trying to find out more about it."

"We need to get there, but we can't without qualification," I explained, scuffing at the ground. "That's what we're trying to find out."

"I wish I could help," Doctor murmured sympathetically. "I'll go and ask Fermant. You two keep going with your search. Good luck." He turned and scuttled quickly away, towards the café, leaving us alone.

"Thank you!" Shiloh called after him. Then she sighed and turned to me. "Everyone must be in Treasure Town about now. They've probably got things covered." She lifted her shoulders and frowned. "Maybe we should leave town and ask Pokémon in the wild."

"Shiloh!" Shiloh and I whirled rapidly as we heard a familiar voice. "And Gale!" Torobi, Sarah and Sakura were standing at the entrance to Treasure Town, and as we watched they eagerly jogged over towards us. Sarah and Torobi had twin blue bandanas tied around their necks, while Sakura had a soft yellow bandana around hers.

"You're back!" Torobi exclaimed, his eyes wide as he looked us up and down. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine," Shiloh assured the Charmander. "Dusknoir took us away, but we managed to get back."

"Grovyle helped us," I put in quickly. "He was—"

"He's not bad, right?" Sarah interrupted calmly, her dark eyes meeting mine. "We know."

"But how?" Shiloh asked in disbelief, and she stared at me in puzzled awe before looking back at Sarah. "I mean, did you hear about it in Treasure Town?"

"No," Sarah replied distantly, looking almost sad. "Right when you got taken away, we had just come back from talking to Xatu."

"It was a long way," Torobi spoke up, throwing the Pikachu a cautionary glance, "and we were too late to stop Dusknoir."

"Xatu?" I asked, frowning in confusion. "You mean the Xatu in Treasure Town?"

"This is a different Xatu," Sarah explained. "One we met a long time ago."

"Xatu is a Pokémon that can see the future," Sakura explained gently. "He stares into the sun all day long and gets visions of things that will happen."

"Visions?" I repeated sharply, stepping closer to the Gardevoir. "Can he use the Dimensional Scream, too?" I blurted.

"I don't think so, Gale," Shiloh interjected, putting a hand on my shoulder. "He's a Psychic Pokémon, so that's probably why he can see the future."

"That's right," Sakura agreed with a smile. She held up her slender arms in a shrug. "I don't know what the Dimensional Scream is."

"It's an…ability that I have," I explained awkwardly, shuffling my feet. "What did Xatu tell you? How'd you know about Dusknoir?"

"He saw that Dusknoir was going to take you into the future," Torobi explained, "and Xatu also told us that the future was a place of darkness, and that time was frozen." The Charmander growled to himself and crossed his arms tightly. "He didn't say more than that, but we tried to come back in time to tell you."

"You did all that?" Shiloh asked, her eyes wide and bewildered. "Thank you, but…why?" Sarah looked up at Torobi and Sakura, her expression questioning. Her friends nodded and she gazed back at Shiloh and me.

"Xatu told us one more thing." The Pikachu spoke steadily, now looking at me. "He saw something else from the future." She clenched her paws. "He saw you turning from a human into a Treecko. He described the scar on your arm and over your eye."

"He saw that?" I asked, shaking my head in confusion. "He's right. I am human...or used to be." A hint of a smile appeared on Sarah's face, though her eyes looked a little sad.

"Only Sakura and Torobi know this," she murmured, "but you should know too."

"What is it?" Shiloh asked curiously, and I nodded in agreement.

"I wasn't born a Pikachu," Sarah explained with a faraway look in her eyes. "I was a human once, too." I drew in a breath as my heart thudded heavily.

"You too?" Shiloh burst out, sounding incredulous. "Are there any more of you?"

"Not that I know of." Sarah smiled a bit, then flicked her ears. A thoughtful expression came over her face. "It happened four years ago."

"Do you know why you became a Pokémon?" Shiloh asked after hesitating a moment.

"The world was in danger, and I was called to help," Sarah explained softly. "A meteor was going to hit the earth." She looked at Torobi with a faintly relieved grin. "Torobi and I were able to stop it." She paused, looking up at the sky with a thoughtful expression.

"I remember that," Shiloh murmured suddenly. "I was little, but I remember seeing it." She gazed at Torobi and Sarah. "You're the ones who got rid of it?"

"Well, Rayquaza destroyed it," Torobi clarified. "We went to ask for his help. Xatu helped make a Teleport Gem to send us up into the clouds where he lived." I vaguely knew about Rayquaza.

"Rayquaza's a legendary Pokémon," I recalled. "Hardly anyone's seen him. But you really talked to him?"

"Yes, we really did," Sarah answered. "He's really big." She shivered a little. "I still remember seeing him for the first time and realizing I was smaller than his teeth."

"But you did it," Shiloh breathed in awe. "You saved everyone."

"You said that was four years ago," I said nervously, recalling Sarah's words. "You've been living as a Pokémon all this time?"

"That's right," Sarah replied with a frown, her ears drooping. "I was about to be sent back home, but suddenly I was brought back. Maybe I still have something to do…or maybe it was because of you, Gale." She looked worried suddenly. "You and Shiloh also have something to do, right? Maybe after you do it, we'll both be able to go home." Torobi glanced quickly at Sarah, then looked away, his expression uneasy.

"Really?" I asked eagerly. "You think so?"

"Maybe," Sarah answered, and I thought about going back home with Grovyle.

"You really must miss your home," Shiloh murmured. I turned towards her, suddenly feeling guilty.

"It's nice here," I told her uneasily, "but...I guess I do."

"It's okay, Gale," Shiloh said, smiling tightly. I bit my lip hard. I really did want to go back home, but would I be homesick for Treasure Town and all the Pokémon I'd met once I left? Another problem was that if I did go back home, my parents might want to get rid of Grovyle again.

"Say, you three," Shiloh said briskly, "we're looking for the Hidden Land. Did…did Xatu say anything about that place?"

"He didn't mention it, no," Sakura responded. "If you need help finding information out, then we'll go ask around."

"Most everyone in the Guild went out to see if they could find out about it," Shiloh explained. "We need proof so we can go to the Hidden Land, but we don't know what the proof is."

"Proof, huh?" Torobi questioned. "You need to jump through some hoops." Shiloh nodded.

"Yeah…seems like it." She scratched her head. "We asked the town elder Torkoal about the Hidden Land and that's all he was able to tell us."

"Hopefully he'll remember something else." Sarah smiled and flicked her tail. "We might stay in Treasure Town for a few days so we can help you if you need it."

"There is something, actually," I said, thinking of Grovyle out in the wild somewhere, looking for the Time Gears. Sakura, Torobi and Sarah turned their gazes towards me. "Grovyle is looking for the Time Gears again. We need to take them to Temporal Tower." The three Pokémon nodded once. "Grovyle needs help, because if he tries to take the Gears again, he could be stopped. The Guild members started spreading the word, but we should tell anyone we can about it."

"Gotcha," Torobi declared confidently, then sighed a bit. "More running around, huh...? But we can do it."

"Yeah," Shiloh said. "We're going to rest after we finish asking around for today." We parted ways at the Wish Café; we still had Fermant to talk to. Heading down into the cool underground café, I saw Doctor talking with the Spinda, Fermant, who owned the place. Fermant saw us and waved, teetering dangerously to one side as he did so.

"Shiloh? And Gale, too?" Fermant gasped, veering over towards us. "It's good to see you both," he said with a smile.

"Well, we're back, but not for long," Shiloh told him as she took a seat at the counter. I joined her. "We've got to go to the Hidden Land soon." Fermant nodded seriously and looked at Doctor.

"We were just talking about that," he said. "You need proof in order to go there, is that correct?"

"That's right," Shiloh told him, "but we don't know what the proof is."

"I'm afraid I don't either," Fermant stated apologetically.

"We've just started looking," Shiloh stated, smiling. "We're not going to give up." She leaned away from the counter suddenly and stretched her arms. "We do need to take a little break, though." She left the counter and looked at me. "Should we go back to the Guild now and see if anyone else found something out?"

"Sounds good," I told her, nodding, then looked at Fermant and Doctor. "Thank you."

"Good luck with your search," Fermant called as we left the café. Back at the Guild, we talked with everyone and discovered that they hadn't found out anything new. Shiloh and I trudged back to her home at Sharpedo Bluff to try and get some rest. Something caught my eye when I approached the straw beds: it was a sheet of bark paper. I snatched it up quickly and scanned it, seeing that it was written in footprint runes. I knew it would take too long trying to decipher it, so I offered it to Shiloh.

"Look at this," I said, and she took the paper. "Can you read it?" She nodded and began scanning the paper. A few moments later she looked up, her brown eyes bright with excitement.

"It's from Grovyle," she announced, and I crowded closer so I could look at the letter, then remembered I couldn't read the runes very well. "He says his search for the Time Gears is going well. He's collected all three Gears from the lakes." She beamed happily and clapped her paws. "He says that Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf had been told about the situation and didn't give him any trouble. Swellow from Team Tasty was the one who told Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, it says." Shiloh pointed to the last part of the note. "Grovyle will be back in a day or two." She set the paper carefully on the ground next to her bed. "Finally a bit of good news!"

"Yeah!" I agreed eagerly. "Hopefully we'll have figured something out by the time he gets back." I sat down on my straw bed and stretched out on my back, yawning tiredly.

"We need all the rest we can get," Shiloh said, also curling up in her bed. "Good thing we're going to bed early." I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to process everything that had happened. I dozed off and woke again feeling groggy, but I managed to get up and sit on the stairs as I ate an Oran berry for breakfast. Shiloh, Jasper and I had stockpiled a fair-sized pile of food in Shiloh's hideout. We'd also piled up some food from Auntie's storage and probably had enough to get us to the Hidden Land and back. I was just finishing the Oran berry when a yawn from behind me caught my attention; Shiloh was withdrawing from her shell and stretching her arms. I rose and headed towards her, taking another Oran berry from the pile of food she had nearby. Shiloh took it with a smile and ate it quickly.

"Sleep well?" I asked her, and she rubbed her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah," she yawned sleepily. "Ready to go to the Guild?"

"Uh-huh," I replied, though was secretly not looking forward to it; I didn't know if Torkoal would be there with any new information, and I was getting nervous at the thought of having nothing to tell Grovyle when he came back. When we got to the Guild, I saw Jasper waiting outside the main entrance with Kit.

"Hey!" He called. "Elder Torkoal's waiting for you!"

"Did he remember something?" Shiloh gasped excitedly, and Jasper gestured for us to follow him inside. The four of us rushed to the main meeting room of the Guild and I saw the fire Pokémon surrounded by the Guild members as well as Team Poochy and Team Tasty. Torkoal seemed to be slightly out of breath, and as Shiloh and I approached, he lifted his head.

"Shiloh, Gale," he panted, then took a deep breath. "I've remembered something about the Hidden Land."

"Take a rest," Shiloh urged him. "We'll wait. Do you need anything, like food or water?"

"I'd appreciate some water, thank you," Torkoal sighed, giving Shiloh a grateful look. I turned to leave but saw Simeon approaching with a hollow rock in his paws. He set it down in front of Torkoal, and I saw the rock was filled with water. Torkoal smiled gratefully and began drinking slowly. Torkoal never got into the hot spring, but I knew that fire Pokémon still needed drinking water. I remembered that the organ that held their fire was a different one than their stomach, so drinking water didn't hurt them. "Thank you." Torkoal smiled and raised his head. "I thought on it almost all night, and finally remembered something about the proof." Shiloh nodded. "To reach the Hidden Land, you need to have something to prove your qualification, like I stated earlier. But the proof has a certain inscription." He paused to take a breath. "This inscription is unusual. A Pokémon could go through their whole life and never see anything like it." He paused. "I've only seen the pattern once." I heard a sigh from behind me and turned to see Lysa standing there with a deep frown.

"How are we going to find it?" She asked dejectedly, her golden petals drooping. "I've never seen any inscriptions anywhere."

"It's something that's unusual and hard to find," Callo put in unhappily. "What should we do?"

"Maybe we should explore some of the places we've been before," Yabi suggested, "or maybe Mesprit, Uxie and Azelf would know something."

"Without a specific visual aid," Chatot sighed, "it's going to be difficult."

"We should go now," I spoke up quickly. "The pattern is unusual, so when we find it, we'll probably know." A thought tickled my mind, and I closed my eyes, thinking hard.

"Well, not necessarily," Shiloh disagreed, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. "It could be anything, and we'd probably just walk by it. If you're looking for something, it's sometimes harder to find. You might need to just stumble across it. That's how I found my relic fragment."

"Relic fragment?" Ran asked curiously. "What's that?" Shiloh reached inside her satchel and pulled out the relic fragment, then showed it to the Loudred.

"Here it is," she announced. "I don't even remember where I found it. It was a long time ago."

"This is it!" Torkoal looked at Shiloh in amazement. "Wherever did you find this?" Shiloh stared at the relic fragment.

"This is it?" She laughed. "I don't believe it! Now we can go to the Hidden Land!"

"Oh my gosh!" Lysa cried. "I'm so glad you found it!"

"We wouldn't have figured it out if you hadn't come back, Torkoal!" Rin said happily. "Thank you!"

"Oh, it was nothing," Torkoal said quickly, smiling faintly. "I'm afraid I must go now. I hope you'll all visit the hot spring soon." Ran helped Torkoal up the ladder and everyone called farewells to him as he left the Guild. When he came back he jumped down the ladder, his eyes wide with excitement."

"Now we just have to wait for Grovyle to come back," I said, and just then Duthie's yell sounded throughout the Guild.

"Everyone, listen! Grovyle's back! I'm letting him in!"


	8. Together

**I don't own Pokémon or the games. I just am happy to be able to write about them. Thank you for reading!**

**Together**

Grovyle entered the room and I ran up to him. My satchel was still over his shoulders. Shiloh rushed up beside me and held out her relic fragment. "Grovyle!" She exclaimed, offering it to Grovyle. "This is the proof we need to get to the Hidden Land!" Grovyle took the stone and studied it quietly.

"Where did you find it?" He asked, looking at her.

"I can't remember," Shiloh told him. "I found it a long time ago while I was exploring." Grovyle carefully handed the relic fragment back to Shiloh, and she returned it to her satchel.

"We have the proof," Grovyle announced loudly. "And I have all of the Time Gears." He patted my satchel. "Now we only need to find out where we need to go." I saw movement from the corner of my eye and turned to see Wigglytuff and Chatot walking towards Grovyle.

"Everyone, please listen carefully," Wigglytuff said, his tone unusually serious. "Chatot and I know where to go in order to get to the Hidden Land." Wigglytuff looked at Chatot and he cleared his throat.

"We discovered it years ago and promised a Pokémon named Lapras that we'd keep the location a secret." He closed his eyes, then opened them and continued. "But we spoke to Lapras and told him that we had to break our promise." Wigglytuff approached Shiloh and me. I swallowed heavily as I met his gaze. Seeing him so serious was a little strange. "Gale, Shiloh, Grovyle. I must ask you now to never disclose the location to anyone outside the Guild."

"Just like with Fogbound Lake?" Duthie piped up, and Chatot nodded.

"Yes, except that this location is even more important than Fogbound Lake." The bird Pokémon stared solemnly at Wigglytuff for a moment, and the pink Pokémon stepped forward, patting Chatot's shoulders once.

"Why just them?" Ran asked curiously, and I turned to see him gesturing towards the rest of the Guild members. "Why not all of us?"

"Because," Wigglytuff replied simply, "only the three of them may go to the Hidden Land. Everyone else must stay here."

* * *

"I never knew there was a passage like this inside the beach cave," Shiloh remarked brightly as Chatot and Wigglytuff led us through a long, dank tunnel.

"It's hard to spot unless you know where to look," Chatot said distractedly as he hopped along beside Wigglytuff, who was skipping along the passage. "We should be almost there." A moment later we entered a large cavern. The path continued ahead into the darkness, and I walked forward a little ways but still couldn't see very far down the path.

"This is where Wigglytuff and I came all those years ago," Chatot murmured. I turned around and listened. Shiloh and Grovyle were watching him, while Wigglytuff was glancing around the cavern with sharp blue eyes. "Wigglytuff saved me here."

"Saved you?" I asked, tensing up and looking around nervously. "So something bad happened?"

"Yes," Chatot answered. "It was ahead a ways...I don't remember most of it. I was attacked and knocked out."

"Hmm…" Shiloh murmured, and I glanced at her. Her nose was scrunched up and she looked disgusted. "There's a weird smell again…I think I finally recognize it." A rushing noise filled the air and something crashed into me, knocked me flat on my back. Shiloh yelped and I rolled over quickly and jumped to my feet. A Zubat was biting her satchel and tugging on it. I ran up, grabbed her satchel and began tugging with Shiloh. The Zubat's wings began flapping harder, and I pulled harder, sure we could get Shiloh's satchel back. Movement caught my eye and I glanced towards the back of the cave to see a Koffing and Skuntank charging us.

"You three again?!" Shiloh grunted. "Let go!" I let go of Shiloh's satchel and ran towards the Skuntank, hoping to stop him long enough for Shiloh win the tug-of-war with Radar, but he veered towards me and picked up speed. I held out my arms, hoping to grab him and use absorb, but he rammed into me and I was sent rolling backward. I heard Shiloh yell over the ringing in my ears, and when I looked up I saw Skuntank, Radar and Kumi hurrying away. Skuntank had Shiloh's satchel in his mouth. Someone took me under the arms and set me on my feet. I looked around to see Grovyle.

"Thanks," I said breathlessly.

"We've got to get my satchel back!" Shiloh cried, urgency and anger in her voice. "The relic fragment is inside it!"

"Let's go!" Grovyle shouted, and I followed him as he ran after Shiloh. Grovyle pulled ahead and I ran down the path by myself for a few minutes. I noticed Chatot was flapping urgently along beside me.

"Where's Wigglytuff?" I gasped as I ran along the rocky corridor.

"He stayed behind to look at something," Chatot snapped as he flew. "But never mind that! Weren't those three the Pokémon who got the Guildmaster a perfect apple?"

"Yeah," I panted, remembering how they'd knocked Shiloh and me out when we'd traveled to the very middle of the Apple Woods.

"Why did they take Shiloh's satchel?" Chatot demanded, his neck feathers puffed out.

"They're not as nice as they seem," I told him. "Let's just catch up!" Suddenly Chatot gave an angry cry; then he was flying ahead of me at a breakneck speed. I was by myself again. "What are you doing?" I yelled, but he was already gone. I kept running and soon the path widened out into a circular cavern, and there Grovyle and Shiloh were kneeling beside Skuntank, Kumi and Radar, who were curled up on the ground. Shiloh's satchel was lying on the ground nearby. I didn't see Chatot anywhere.

"Hang in there," Shiloh was saying, and as I got closer I could see that the three Pokémon had gashes across their bodies. Shiloh rifled in her satchel and pulled out three Oran berries. She handed one to me as I ran closer and I approached Kumi and held it out.

"Can you eat this?" I asked, and the Koffing opened his mouth a bit. I offered it to him, then pulled it back and crushed it, then put the berry mush into his mouth. He swallowed it and I looked at Radar and Skuntank. "Are they okay?" Grovyle and Shiloh looked at me and nodded.

"They'll be fine," Grovyle answered. Shiloh put her satchel on and stood up.

"Sorry, you three…but we have to go on." She looked worried. "Will you be alright?"

"Those….urggh…Pokémon won't get rid of us so easily," Skuntank rasped painfully. "Especially not when that Chatot gave the three of us a lecture before flying off. He really ticked me off…I'm going to go after him and pay him back."

"Don't worry," Radar said quietly, sighing. "Go and do whatever you have to." I glanced inside my satchel. I had six Oran berries, so I pulled out three and set one beside the downed Pokémon.

"Eat these when you feel better," I told them, and Skuntank gave a quiet snort.

"What are you doing?" he growled faintly. "We're not friends."

"I don't want to be friends!" I told him in annoyance, narrowing my eyes. "You've only ever caused trouble for us and everyone around us. But letting you suffer because I don't like you is a terrible reason."

"It's your choice," Skuntank growled under his breath. He stared at me for a moment, then flicked his gaze to Shiloh. "You're Shiloh." She nodded, and Skuntank looked back at me. "And you're Gale." Shiloh and I nodded. "Call me Azara."

"Azara?" Shiloh repeated.

"Now get out of here, before I take the satchel back," Azara grunted, closing his eyes. "I wouldn't hold back."

"You're in no shape to fight," Grovyle scoffed. "Save your strength so you can recover." He shook his head, then turned to Shiloh and me. "Come on, you two. We need to go." I nodded and glanced at Azara, Kumi and Radar, then hurried after Shiloh and Grovyle. The path led to another circular cavern, though it was smaller than the last. Chatot was standing in the middle of the room.

"Chatot?" I asked. "Why did you just run off?"

"It was right here," Chatot muttered, his eyes narrowed. "The last time the Guildmaster and I were here, we were attacked without warning. Something from the ceiling fell down and…" Chatot suddenly flared his wings, causing Shiloh and Grovyle to jolt to attention, startled by the quick movement. "Gale! Above you!" I glanced upward and squinted, then saw three Pokémon clinging to the ceiling. Before I could tell which Pokémon they were, they had dropped from the ceiling. One was falling right for me with raised forearms. Something sharp glinted and I heard a swish of movement and then a slash of pain across my back. Suddenly I was lying my on my stomach, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me. Wincing, I pushed myself up. I was a short distance away from where I'd been standing. Glancing around in confusion, I saw Chatot hunched nearby. In front of him were three Pokémon, and I finally recognized them as an Omastar, Kabutops and a Kabuto. Suddenly Chatot collapsed in a heap. I shook my head and ran over to him, then picked him up carefully.

"Chatot?" I asked, my heart thudding. I felt something warm on my left paw. I rolled Chatot over, holding him with both paws, and saw a short, jagged gash across his chest. A blur of movement from my left made me look up quickly and I saw the Kabutops lunging for Chatot and me. There was a green flash of movement and Grovyle was engaging the Pokémon with his leaf blade. Shiloh rushed up and sent a water gun towards the Kabuto, sending it careening to the other end of the cavern. I focused on Chatot and then yanked my satchel off, pressing it hard against the gash. "Chatot, are you okay?" I stammered, paws shaking as I continued to press on the gash.

"Gale, give him to me." Wigglytuff's commanding voice made me look up, and the Guild master was leaning over me. He took hold of Chatot and I carefully let go, then put my satchel over his head, hoping it would stay in place and stop the bleeding. "Gale, you have to go on with Grovyle and Shiloh. I'll take care of Chatot. He's saved me before."

"Chatot said you saved him," Shiloh spoke up, sounding puzzled.

"He was knocked out," Wigglytuff explained, looking mournfully at Chatot, "so he doesn't remember. He shielded me from the Kabutops the first time we were here."

"Are you sure he'll be alright?" I asked shakily, my stomach churning at the thought of Chatot's injury. Something pressed against me and I glanced up. Grovyle was looking down at me.

"Calm down and trust Wigglytuff." I nodded once, swallowing hard. Grovyle met the Guild master's eyes. "He'll be fine, but you need to get him out of here now."

"Take him to Doctor!" I exclaimed, remembering that he should still be at his shop. "He'll know what to do." Wigglytuff nodded and hefted Chatot into his arms.

"You're almost there," Wigglytuff said. "You can do it." He turned sharply and rushed back the way we'd come. I watched him go, then glanced around and saw that the three Pokémon who had suddenly attacked were lying on the ground.

"They're fine," Shiloh grunted with a glare at the three. "We just knocked them out." She gestured to me and I slowly walked towards her. "We'd better go." She patted my shoulders, and I winced. "You okay?"

"I think the Kabutops got me," I responded, touching my shoulders, feeling a small cut there, "but it's not as bad as Chatot. He saved me." I felt a strong pang of guilt. Grovyle gave me a little push, then darted off towards the path up ahead with Shiloh. I hurried after them. When I caught up Grovyle glanced at me.

"Chatot will be fine," he said. "We have a job to do. Everyone will be in danger if we fail."

"Right," I mumbled, trying to run as fast as I could. We ran for several minutes down the path, which was a straight shot, like Wigglytuff said. I tipped my head, swearing I'd heard waves crashing. Soon I caught a glimpse of fiery orange light ahead of us. The path led out into a large cavern like the one we'd just left, but it was surrounded by the ocean, which glittered in red, orange and yellow in the sunset.

"Look at this!" Shiloh exclaimed in amazement, and I ran over towards her and saw that she was staring at the wall of the cavern, which was painted with swirling, intricate white marks. "It's exactly like my relic fragment." Eagerly she pulled her fragment out of her satchel and looked at it. I jumped when the fragment began to glow a soft blue, then shaded my eyes when the wall began to glow the same shade of blue. "Is the wall reacting to the relic fragment?" She asked in wonder.

"Maybe," I answered, staring at the wall. I jumped in surprise as a blue streak shot out from the wall. Turning quickly, I saw that it shot out over the ocean towards the horizon, quickly vanishing a moment later. "What was that?" I puzzled aloud, and Shiloh shook her head and held up her arms.

"I don't know…" she said, a perplexed frown on her face. Then she squinted out at the sea. I looked, too, but couldn't see anything. "I think some Pokémon is out there."

"I see it, too," Grovyle remarked. "It's getting closer." A moment later I could see it too. It was a tall, large shape, and it was bobbing out on the ocean. Gradually it got closer and closer until it was swimming right up to the shore.

"Lapras!" Shiloh burst out. "You're the one Wigglytuff was talking about, aren't you?" The swimming Pokémon nodded and came to a stop on the rocky shore.

"I am," he answered with a faint smile. "And I'm here to take you three to the Hidden Land." He paddled his flippers backwards, then turned sideways, showing the purple saddle on his back. "Hop on." Shiloh hopped on first, and I waded into the shallows and clambered up onto Lapras's back. I sat near Lapras's neck and held on carefully. Grovyle made the leap from the shore to Lapras's back in one graceful bound. "Here we go," Lapras said with a smile as he turned and began swimming smoothly through the ocean waves. The bright light of the setting sun made me shade my eyes, but a moment later, the sun's glare faded. I looked up gingerly, then gazed ahead past Lapras's neck at the sky.

The sun had just vanished beneath the horizon. I gulped as I realized that we were another step closer to the dark future.


	9. The Hidden Land

**I don't own the Pokémon games or the franchise. I'm just happy that I have been able to write the story for this long. Thank you for reading and for being patient with me.**

**Hidden Land**

"Lapras? I'd like to ask you something." The sky was clear and I'd been watching the stars, but I glanced at Shiloh after she spoke up curiously from beside me. Lapras turned his head towards her and nodded.

"Of course. What is it?" Shiloh gave him a little smile.

"Well, Chatot and Wigglytuff knew where the secret place in the beach cave was," she said, crossing her arms with a thoughtful expression. "And Wigglytuff said that they had met you before and promised to keep it secret."

"That's right," Lapras told her with a slight nod. "I first met Chatot and Wigglytuff when they were exploring the beach cave." Lapras glanced ahead at the horizon. "They stumbled upon the secret place by accident. Kabutops attacked Wigglytuff, but Chatot took the blow. Wigglytuff had run ahead, and he wound up in the place with the glyph on the wall. He was lost, and Chatot was wounded, but I approached Wigglytuff then and offered to swim them to the main beach. Wigglytuff accepted." I glanced over my shoulder, biting my lip with worry, hoping that Chatot would be alright this time, too. "After that, Wigglytuff took Chatot and was able to get him medical attention. Some time later, after Chatot had recovered, Wigglytuff came to me. I told him about the secret cave and what the glyph on the wall meant. Before I could ask, he swore to keep it a secret."

"Wow," Shiloh breathed. "Wigglytuff is really a kind Pokémon." She pressed my shoulder and I looked at her. "Chatot, too…he protected Wigglytuff again. Those two are really close, aren't they?"

"Will…will Chatot be okay?" I couldn't help asking as I looked over my shoulder again. The sun's light had faded completely for the day, and I couldn't see the beach cave anymore. I could only dimly see Shiloh, Grovyle and Lapras's silhouettes. Grovyle turned his head towards me; or at least, I thought he did.

"He will, but we have to move forward now." I looked up at him and then glanced away, uncertain. "You want to help those in need, but sometimes you can't," Grovyle said with a faint sigh. "Dusknoir attacked people in Striaton City because he was trying to find you." I nodded slowly. "You wanted to stop and help them." He took my right arm and lifted it up, and I stared at the faded red scar. "Even though you were injured."

"This happened while we were running from Dusknoir?" I asked, and Grovyle nodded. His eyes met mine, then flicked down at the scar on my arm.

"You attacked Dusknoir then," he said quietly, "but I did as well, and my leaf blade hit you by accident." He let go of my arm and I ran my paw along the red line. "That's how you got the scar." He glanced at me. "I noticed it the second time I saw you." He frowned and crossed his arms.

"Right," I murmured, remembering. "You wanted to know how I got it. I thought you meant this." I ran a paw over the scar on my forehead.

"You were right, saying it was me," Grovyle said, "even though you didn't know it."

"I got in the way," I said, crossing my arms. "I was human then. I couldn't have been much help." Grovyle was silent for a moment, and all I could hear was the rushing sound of the waves as Lapras swam on through the ocean.

"Gale," Grovyle said in a low tone, his eyes somehow looking…regretful. "If I ever tell you to press on regardless of what happens to me, then you must."

"What do you mean?" I demanded. "I don't want to get separated again."

"Just swear you'll keep going," Grovyle insisted firmly, crossing his arms. "The future is at stake, and it's more important than anything else. Do you understand?"

"I do," I told him warily, "but…why are you…?" Lapras leaned his neck forward and began speeding up. The current was becoming turbulent and waved splashed up over the sea Pokémon's back. I stumbled sideways and almost slipped off his back. "Whoa!" I exclaimed, reaching out to grab Lapras's neck for support. "Why are we going faster?"

"We're approaching the Sea of Time," Lapras said over his shoulder, and I held his neck tighter as his body lurched in the waves. I glanced down. The sea around Lapras was calm, and it was only the water around his body that was getting stirred up from some unknown force. Lapras's body swayed and lurched, and I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked down. My stomach jumped straight into my throat. Lapras was rising steadily above the water, and he rose further into the air with every minute.

"Lapras is flying!" Shiloh exclaimed from behind me, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"No..." I heard Grovyle say, sounding surprised. "We're crossing the Sea of Time!" Wind buffeted my face and I opened my eyes a bit, then glanced down, but immediately wished I hadn't. Lapras was high above the ocean, so far that I couldn't make out any waves. The sea was just a vast blue expanse below us, and the sky was a midnight blue expanse above us. My stomach flipped as air rushed by me, and I pressed myself to Lapras's back as I imagined him falling into the sky. Glancing anxiously behind me I saw Shiloh lying on her stomach with her eyes tightly shut, both paws clutching Lapras's back. Grovyle was holding on as well but his eyes were open and staring straight ahead. I called to him but the wind drowned out my voice. The wind increased until it was whistling painfully in my head. A bright flash momentarily blinded me and a second later, thunder crashed. I yelled out in alarm, sure we would be hit by lightning. Suddenly the flashes and thunder subsided, and the wind lessened slightly. Gingerly peeking around Lapras's neck I saw that Lapras was approaching a large green land mass.

"Is that the Hidden Land?" I shouted over the wind, and Lapras nodded his head once.

"We'll land soon," he called, his voice carrying over the wind, "so hang on!" I looked back and saw Shiloh's grip slipping. I let go of Lapras's neck and crawled towards her, then grabbed both of her paws and held on tightly.

"We're almost there," I told her, and she opened her eyes. I pulled her further up onto Lapras's back and she gave a deep sigh.

"Be prepared," Grovyle spoke firmly over the wind. "Dusknoir hasn't shown up so far, but I know it's just a matter of time. We'll need to be ready to face him if we have to." I felt a pang of alarm and hoped he just wouldn't show up, but I knew Grovyle was right. I was afraid of him, and had been from the moment I'd seen him in Treasure Town, but I couldn't let that stop me from standing up to him. He might be stronger than me, but when he did show up, I was going to do my best to fight him and keep the Planet's Paralysis from happening. I watched as Lapras approached the Hidden Land and touched down on the lush, grassy ground. I helped Shiloh get up, then turned and swallowed heavily before leaping off of Lapras's back. My stomach fluttered as I fell, but I managed to land somewhat steadily on my feet. I turned and moved out of the way so Shiloh and Grovyle could leap down.

"Look at that," Grovyle said, pointing at the sky, and I turned and craned my neck. In the distance, a tall and gray stone tower loomed. Glowing red clouds that crashed with thunder and flashed with lightning obscured the very top of the tower from view. Without warning a tremor rumbled through the ground and I stumbled, grabbing Grovyle's arm before I fell over. It was the biggest tremor I'd ever felt. "Temporal Tower is starting to collapse," Grovyle muttered grimly, his yellow eyes narrowed in determination. "We need to get the Time Gears to the very top."

"How will we get up there, though?" Shiloh wondered, a worried tone in her voice. I frowned in thought, then turned to Lapras.

"I can't take you up there," he said, "but a vessel called the Rainbow Stoneship is nearby. It will help you get to the summit of Temporal Tower." He turned his neck and nudged Shiloh's satchel. "Your relic fragment will help."

"Let's go, then!" Shiloh burst out urgently. "We need to find it now!"

"Good luck," Lapras said, raising his head. "I'll be waiting for you."

"Thank you for bringing us here," I told him, and he nodded solemnly. Grovyle set off and I rushed to catch up and heard Shiloh running as well.

"I hope this Rainbow Stoneship is nearby," Shiloh spoke up as we headed further into the Hidden Land. "I don't know how much time we have." Just then a powerful tremor shook the ground and I crouched, pressing my paws into the ground until it passed. When the ground stilled, I got to my feet and shook my head. "Not much, I guess," Shiloh muttered anxiously. She put a paw inside her satchel, then withdrew her relic fragment. "I wonder how this will be able to help us," she said, puzzled. I looked at the fragment and noticed it seemed to be glowing blue. Suddenly it flashed a bright blue and shot out a stream of light.

"It's like before," I noted, following the light. "We should follow it." Grovyle nodded and together we set off at a fast pace. Eventually the grassy ground became rocky and ahead there was a sloping hill with stone steps leading up the side. Grovyle bounded up the steps and Shiloh and I followed as fast as we could, clambering up the rocky, crumbling stairs, panting slightly as we crested the top. The relic fragment Shiloh was holding glowed brighter, the blue light becoming a blinding white. Shading my eyes with both paws, I glanced down and saw white glyphs covering the stone floor. "Look at this," I said, and Shiloh put the relic fragment in her satchel. The bright light faded a bit so I stopping shading my eyes and crouched on the ground to try and see the glyphs better. "Isn't it the same pattern that was on the wall of the beach cave?"

"You're right!" Shiloh nodded emphatically. "I noticed that, too." Shiloh studied the patterns for a moment, then stood and walked across the floor. "I don't know what to do, though." She glanced at the glyphs, then lifted her head and looked over the hill at something. "There's something over there. Come on!" Shiloh took off and I ran down the hill after her, almost tripping once on the stone stairs. Once I reached the bottom, I found her standing in front of an oval-shaped stone pedestal. "There are footprint runes on it," she noted, and I glanced at them, but could only make out a couple runes that I understood.

"It says we need to present our proof of qualification," Grovyle read, walking up to the pedestal. "When we do, the Rainbow Stoneship will appear." He glanced down at Shiloh. "That must mean your relic fragment."

"Let's go back and look at the glyph," Shiloh suggested, and Grovyle nodded. I turned and headed for the stairs at a run. When I reached the top stair I ran a couple steps, then looked up to see Dusknoir floating there, his arms crossed. He had three Sableye flanking him on both sides. Slowly I backed up, preparing to run, but Dusknoir held out both hands and shot a ball of darkness from his palms. It hit me and I staggered backward towards the stairs. My left foot slipped over the edge of the steps, and then I was tumbling over and over. I struck something hard and choked, the air knocked out of me. I tried to move but my body wouldn't respond. Staring up at the darkening sky, I suddenly saw Grovyle lean over me. He reached down and I felt his arms slide under me and lift me up.

"I told you," Dusknoir growled, and I painfully glanced over to see him drawing closer. "You're no match for Master Dialga."

"We're not giving up, Dusknoir," Shiloh stated loudly. "You've seen things in the past. It's bright and fun here, and there are lots of good Pokémon who change and become stronger. The bad ones even do their best and change, even when the world doesn't." Kumi, Radar and Azara came to my mind. Hopefully they had eaten the berries and were getting better. I felt a weight on my shoulder and saw Shiloh step towards Dusknoir. Her paw was on my arm. "How can you stand a world trapped in darkness, never moving forward?" Dusknoir narrowed his single red eye.

"You can't possibly understand," he said in a low, threatening tone. "Give up now, and I'll make your deaths painless."

"You don't understand," I groaned, sitting up in Grovyle's arms. "You've lived in the future and the past." I pushed against Grovyle's chest and slipped from his arms; I landed heavily and fell to my knees. My left ankle throbbed with pain. I managed to stand up and kept my weight on my uninjured leg. "I don't know why you want the Planet's Paralysis to happen, but you've learned about this world. You explored a lot of it before you came to Treasure Town, didn't you? You probably saw lots of things. Dialga helped you do that." The ghost Pokémon was silent, though his crimson eye was narrowed to a slit. "Shiloh's right. Pokémon change even if they don't notice." Dusknoir's eye flashed brightly and I felt a tremor of fear as my body began to shake. Suddenly I remembered him attacking Grovyle and me. "W-What if….someday…you want the future world to….to be like it is in the past?" I swallowed and took a breath, then glanced over at Shiloh, and she squeezed my arm. I managed to look back at Dusknoir and meet his glowing red eye, suddenly not feeling so afraid of it. "You might never change your mind…but there's still a little chance you could….and what would you do then?"

"Enough!" Dusknoir thundered. I jolted in alarm, accidentally putting my weight on my left leg. I stumbled forward to try and balance myself, and Dusknoir shot towards me, his arms raised above his head. Before I could do anything he knocked Shiloh aside and swiped at Grovyle, who dodged out of the way. I clumsily tried to move, but Dusknoir grabbed me and brought me close to his face. "The future's not going to change!" I struggled and managed to get my arms free, and put my paws on Dusknoir's arm and tried desperately to use absorb on him. I felt a little burst of warmth shoot through my body, but suddenly Dusknoir's hand tightened around me. A green flash of movement caught my eye; Grovyle had slashed at Dusknoir's arm with leaf blade. The ghost Pokémon's grip slackened and I hit the ground. Instead of going after Grovyle, Dusknoir aimed both hands and me and a ball of darkness began forming. I covered my head with both arms and waited for the attack to hit, but it never did. I glanced around and saw Grovyle crouching in front of me. He was trembling slightly, and as I watched he fell to a knee. A Sableye lunged into the air and raised a clawed paw, but a jet of water knocked the Pokémon away. Another Sableye dashed for Grovyle.

"Don't even think about it!" Shiloh hollered, and knocked the Sableye away with a spray of water. Two more lunged for Grovyle and me, but Shiloh took one out and Grovyle slashed at the other with a leaf blade. Something slammed into me from behind, and I reached out, managing to grab it. Glancing back I saw a flash of purple and knew it was the last Sableye. Gritting my teeth, I used absorb and felt my paws burning. The Sableye jerked and tried to get away, but I managed to hold on, and Shiloh hit it with a water gun. I fell backward, then rolled over and pushed myself up. Dusknoir was a few feet away from me, and I scrambled backwards, but then noticed that he was collapsed on the ground, unmoving. I reached both paws out and dragged myself towards Grovyle.

"Are you alright?" I asked, and Grovyle stood and pulled me to my feet. I managed to balance on my right foot.

"Fine," Grovyle grunted, shaking his head. "Shiloh," he said, looking steadily at her, "take your relic fragment to the glyph and find out where it fits. We need to get going. Gale and I will be along soon."

"Right!" Shiloh turned and darted up the stone stairs two at a time.

"Why…?" Dusknoir rasped, his body twitching slightly. "Why do you fight so hard for a future you won't exist in?" I stared at him, dismay creeping over me.

"Because protecting the future is more important than my life." Grovyle flicked his yellow gaze to me. "You felt the same way, even though you don't remember."

"What does he mean?" I asked, wrinkling my forehead in confusion. "We won't exist?"

"If we change the future by returning the Time Gears to Temporal Tower," Grovyle said stoutly, "then we'll have changed the future we were born in. When we put the Time Gears back…we'll disappear."

"How can you accept that?" Dusknoir grunted, rising slightly, his red eye narrowed. "I don't care how bad the future is. I don't want to disappear." In a flash Dusknoir was up and had shot a ball of darkness at Grovyle and me. I tried to grab Grovyle and pull him away, but a burning sensation rose all over my body and my arm dropped. When the fiery pain subsided, I was lying on my side next to the stairs. I could just barely see Grovyle crouched a short distance away, with Dusknoir looming over him, a portal of darkness flickering just behind the ghost Pokémon.

"Because it's more important than our lives," Grovyle retorted resolutely, lifting his head. His yellow eyes were slits. "Gale and I resolved to change the future no matter what!" Grovyle lifted his arms and rushed Dusknoir, pinning the ghost type's arms forcefully to his body. He gave Dusknoir a sharp shove towards the Dimensional Hole. Grovyle swiftly reached yanked the large satchel he wore over his head and tossed it backwards. It landed right in front of me and tipped over. Six small objects clattered out onto the stone ground. Dusknoir pushed back against Grovyle, but he regained his grip on Dusknoir's arm, then dug his feet into the rocky ground and began pushing Dusknoir towards the Dimensional Hole with sheer force.

"Take the Time Gears and get to Temporal Tower!" Rising unsteadily to my feet, I swept the Time Gears back into the satchel and slipped it over my head.

"But…but what about you?" I yelled, and Grovyle shook his head.

"Go without me!" He shouted commandingly. "You have to!"

"The Rainbow Stoneship is ready to go! Come on, you two!" Shiloh's voice, high with panic, broke through to me. "Grovyle?! Gale?! Wh-what happened?!"

"Gale, Shiloh…look after each other," Grovyle grunted, his voice strained, "and you'll be fine." lifted his head high. "The parting hurts…but the rest is in your hands!" He gave Dusknoir a final powerful shove, and the two vanished into the Dimensional Hole, which flickered and winked out of existence a second later.


	10. Temporal Tower

**I don't own the Pokémon franchise or the games, including any dialogue from the Mystery Dungeon games I include in the story. I just have fun writing Pokémon Fanfiction. Thank you for reading and sticking with me this long!**

* * *

**Temporal Tower**

"Gale?" Shiloh was shaking my shoulders, but my throat was tight. I stared at the spot where Grovyle had just vanished into the Dimensional Hole. "Gale!" Shiloh hollered, and I jumped, my heart thumping hard against my chest. "Are you alright?"

"Uh…I'm…I'm fine," I stammered, recalling Dusknoir's revelation. If Shiloh and I got the Time Gears to Temporal Tower, then Grovyle and Dusknoir would disappear along with the rest of the Pokémon and people in the future.

_I'll disappear, too…should…should I tell her? _Dumbly, I stared at Shiloh. _No….I can't…_

"Sorry," I told Shiloh quickly. "I'm fine, it's just…my ankle." I touched my left ankle and drew my paw back at it throbbed. I had bumps and cuts from my fall down the stairs, and my left arm and shoulder were stinging with pain. Dusknoir had attacked Grovyle as well, and he was probably more hurt than me, but he didn't have any supplies to heal himself with. Shiloh and I had some supplies, but since I'd left my satchel with Chatot, we were a little lower on items than usual.

"Here," Shiloh said, hoisting me up and putting my arm around her shoulders. "I'll help." She helped me limp forward and we made for the stairs, and though I had to hobble up the stairs, we made it. There was a crackling, rushing sound coming from somewhere nearby, and I looked up to see a slightly raised circular platform with a ring of light around it.

"That's the Rainbow Stoneship," Shiloh told me as she helped me limp over to the platform. "There was a hole in the middle of it, and my relic fragment fit perfectly." She helped me sit down, and then she took a seat as well. There was a jolt as the platform lifted up into the air and began to rise towards the distant profile of Temporal Tower. I glanced down, then looked quickly up at Shiloh. She looked back at me and frowned.

"Gale...what happened back there?" She asked glumly, her shoulders lowered. I bit my lip hard, thinking about how to explain and what to leave out.

"Dusknoir attacked us," I told her carefully, "and then opened the Dimensional Hole…but Grovyle gave me the Time Gears, then grabbed Dusknoir and pushed him in. The portal disappeared before I could do anything." Shiloh looked away and didn't speak for a long time. I stared back at the Hidden Land, which was now far below us, and instead of getting too queasy and panicked about the heights, I noticed a stream of rainbow-colored light shifting in the wake of the Stoneship. The colorful streams of light clashed against the sulfurous storm clouds that surrounded the Hidden Land. "Look at that, Shiloh," I told her, gesturing towards the multicolored light stream. "I guess that's where it got its name."

"It's pretty," Shiloh murmured quietly. I heard her sniff, and looked quickly over. Her eyes were tearing up. "Maybe…maybe you and Grovyle don't live too far into the future." She glanced up, and a couple tears slid down her face. "We might be able to see Grovyle again. He's strong, so he'll be able to handle Dusknoir." My throat suddenly felt tight. I shuffled closer to Shiloh and glanced up at the sky.

"He'll be fine," I said, swallowing heavily. I tried not to look at her. "We'll be okay, too. We're almost there." The Rainbow Stoneship continued steadily on and I watched Temporal Tower getting closer with a feeling of dread. Dialga was at Temporal Tower, and there was no telling how he'd react to us. The first time I'd seen Dialga he'd been ready to attack and probably kill Linné, Grovyle, Shiloh and me. I really didn't want to meet him again. He might be a little different in the past but I couldn't help but remember how he'd almost succeeded in helping Dusknoir get rid of us. Almost as strong as the fear, though, was the painful feeling of sadness in my chest. I didn't want to disappear. I had no idea what it'd be like. I didn't know if it'd hurt, or if it'd take a long time. I really didn't know how I'd eventually break the news to Shiloh. My head spun and my eyes stung. Biting my lip hard I tried to stare straight ahead.

"Gale?" Shiloh nudged me gently, and I swallowed hard and looked at her. "You okay?" I blinked and nodded slowly.

"Yeah," I muttered, clearing my throat. I knew I couldn't let myself cry in front of her. She wouldn't have much trouble getting the news out of me. "Just thinking." We sat in silence for several minutes, and without warning the Stoneship gave a lurch and came to a halt against a craggy landmass. Shiloh stood up and held her arms out.

"We're here," she announced. Tipping my head back, I saw that Temporal Tower was looming far above us, and that the scarlet storm clouds were even bigger up close. The lightning and thunder had increased and were louder and brighter than they had been when I'd first seen them from Lapras's back, but it was probably because we were right under the tower. "I'll help you walk." I took Shiloh's paws and stood up, keeping my weight on my good leg, and Shiloh put my arm over her shoulders again and held an arm around my waist. Slowly, we disembarked the Rainbow Stoneship and approached Temporal Tower. A winding, rocky path led the way to the tower. A faint tremor rattled the ground as we walked and a couple chunks of rock fell away from the path. We avoided the gap and continued on. I swallowed heavily, easily imagining myself falling, but tried to keep my eyes on the tower. "Almost there now," Shiloh muttered uneasily, and we followed the last winding bit of path and approached. There was a dark opening in the tower and we silently passed through it.

"Whoa…" I murmured apprehensively as I gazed up at the interior of Temporal Tower. There was a long, winding pathway that led higher up the tower, and eventually it became too high for me to make out any details. I could only see some of the pathway from where we were standing. Some portions of the pathway had crumbled away and there were large gaps missing in other places. Openings in the side of the tower let red shafts of light in. I would have called them windows if I hadn't seen the level of disrepair the tower was in. The tremors were probably destroying the tower little by little, and Grovyle had said that the collapse of Temporal Tower had caused Dialga to lose his mind, as the tower was what kept time in balance.

"Let's go," Shiloh said, pulling my arm tighter around her shoulders as she readjusted her grip on my waist. "Hang in there," she told me with a look of determination. "We can do it." Shiloh walked forward, and I limped ahead a couple steps to keep up. A tremor shook the tower and we ducked as rubble showered down around our heads. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You?" I asked, and Shiloh gave a half-smile.

"Just fine." We set off again, Shiloh guiding me as I limped along beside her, the only sound being occasional rumbles from outside and cracking noises from the tower.

"Shiloh?" I asked after we'd been walking for what felt like an hour. She murmured back, her eyes focused on the path ahead. "When we get to the top, you should put the Time Gears back in their place." She glanced sharply at me. "That sounds bad, but I'd do it if I had to, if it were just me." I glanced down at my sprained ankle. "Now though…I'm slowing us down." Shiloh eyed me silently for a moment, her brown eyes troubled. Then she took a deep breath and gazed back ahead at the path. I stared ahead as well and frowned when I saw a gap in the pathway coming up.

"I'm taking you to the top with me, Gale," Shiloh told me firmly, tightening her grip on my paw and waist. "But I'll put the Time Gears back. While I'm doing that, you watch out for danger and let me know what's happening."

"Okay." I nodded. Shiloh suddenly hefted me up and draped me across her back. I clasped my paws around her neck and held on tightly, almost sliding over her side as she crouched and tensed her muscles.

"Hang on, Gale. I'm going to jump this gap." I held on as tightly as I could without choking her and had a sudden wave of nausea. I tried to ignore it as Shiloh retreated a couple steps. She took a deep breath, then ran for the gap and sprang once she got to the edge. My stomach flip-flopped and I had the terrible sensation of falling for a moment, but then there was a jolt as Shiloh landed on the other side of the path. "Made it!" Suddenly the path rumbled and I had the sensation of falling again. I glanced back.

"The path's crumbling!" I yelled in panic, and Shiloh took off running. The pathway steepened as it led further upward and I held on as tightly as I could. The rumbling continued and I glanced back to see more of the pathway cracking and then falling away. I heard Shiloh huffing and panting heavily as she ran, and hoped I wasn't slowing her down. My stomach leapt as Shiloh jumped, and there was a jarring thud as she landed. She'd leapt another gap, I realized as I turned to look back. Shiloh ran on for several more minutes and I watched the path behind us, feeling helpless. If I was slowing her down, would I be able to jump off so that at least she'd be able to survive?

"Doing alright?" Shiloh demanded breathlessly, her voice raspy.

"Yeah," I responded. I glanced behind quickly at the path and saw that it wasn't breaking apart anymore. "It's safe!" I yelled. "We can stop!" Gradually Shiloh slowed down and I slipped down her shell onto the floor. Shiloh groaned and slumped to the floor, winded and gasping for breath. I limped over to her and sat awkwardly with my bad leg stretched out. "You gonna be okay?" I asked, and she gazed wearily up at me.

"Fine," she wheezed. "Just give…me a minute…"

"That was amazing!" I exclaimed, forgetting the panic of the moment. "You ran a really long way, and you were really fast, even with me slowing you down!" Shiloh smiled weakly and chuckled quietly.

"All the….Guild's training….paid off," she panted, then sat up gingerly.

"Thanks, Shiloh," I said, rifling around in my satchel. I sifted through the berries and found a bright blue berry with a stiff array of leaves on top—a Sitrus berry. "Eat this," I said, offering it to her. She took it, then tossed it into her mouth. "You saved the day."

"Not yet, I haven't," she muttered, swallowing. "But thanks anyway." She patted my shoulders, then got shakily to her feet. "Come on." I glanced up the pathway, then eagerly back at Shiloh.

"I think I can get up the rest of the way on my own," I said, pointing at a nearby doorway. "You got us all the way to the top." Shiloh gaped in amazement.

"Alright! Let's go, then!" She stayed beside me as I limped towards the exit, and once we passed through the doorway, we both stopped dead. We were standing on the very top of the tower, and the scarlet clouds swirled directly overhead, sending out occasional bursts of lightning and claps of thunder. Up close, the noise of the storm hurt my head more than Ran's wake-up call. Holding both paws to my head, I limped forward, looking for the place where the Time Gears would go. A flash of lightning burst overhead and lit up the area, and in that instant, I saw a panel on a wall at the other end of the platform.

"Shiloh! Over there!" I gestured urgently and began hobbling forward as quickly as I could. "That's where the Time Gears go!" Shiloh pressed up beside me and held my waist as I walked, and soon we were directly below the panel. A short set of smooth stone steps led up to the panel where six gear-shaped hollows were. I quickly removed my satchel and handed it to Shiloh. She took it and hurried up the steps. I turned around and walked a few feet away, looking up at the turbulent sky and then at the top of Temporal Tower. There were numerous stone pillars atop its summit. Half of them had been destroyed and were half the length of the undamaged pillars. Rubble littered the ground around the pillars, and I awkwardly bent to pick up a piece of the rubble, then ran a paw along its surface. It was smooth and cool, and there were intricate, spiraling designs etched into its surface. Temporal Tower looked impressive at the moment, but it probably looked even more impressive when it wasn't damaged.

A bout of dizziness made me stagger and fall to my knees. A vision. There was a flash of light and I shut my eyes tightly. I saw Shiloh standing on top of Temporal Tower. A towering figure suddenly materialized out of the shadows and raised a foreleg the size of a tree trunk. As I watched the Pokémon brought the massive foreleg down. I screamed, and with a jolt I realized I was still on top of Temporal Tower, staring over at Shiloh. She was still alright! There was still time for me to do something. Shiloh was running down the steps towards me.

"What happened? What is it?" She gasped urgently. I glanced up and immediately saw the figure from my vision. It was Dialga, his body a midnight blue with orange stripes across his body, and he was standing right above Shiloh. He bared his fangs and let out a bone-rattling growl. Shiloh's head jerked up sharply and her eyes stretched wide in horror as she saw Dialga.

"RUN!" I ran towards her as fast as I could manage. The piece of rubble I'd picked up was still in my right paw. I drew my arm back and hurled it at Dialga with all the strength I had. "RUN!" I hollered again. "MOVE!" As I ran, my ankle gave way and sent a sharp jab of pain through my leg, but I forced myself back up and pressed on, wanting to do anything to keep my vision from happening. "LOOK OUT!" There was a light thump as the rubble hit one of Dialga's legs, and he growled and turned his crimson eyes on me. I tripped and fell flat on my face, but looked up immediately as his voice echoed through the air.

"Why have you come here here?" He rumbled threateningly, baring his huge fangs. I remembered what Sarah had said while describing her encounter with Rayquaza.

_I remember seeing him and realizing I was smaller than his teeth._

Dialga's jagged fangs were bigger, jutting out from his jaws, and he was much bigger and taller than the Groudon illusion that Uxie had conjured. I was miniscule compared to Dialga, and if he wanted to smash me, he could do it without much effort and probably without feeling anything. I felt weak as I stared up at him, and when he growled, hot fear coursed through my body.

"WELL?" Dialga thundered, and I pressed myself to the ground.

"We're not here to cause trouble!" I shouted, hoping he could hear me. "We want to restore time! We've come to put the Time Gears back!" Dialga let out a chilling snarl and I froze, holding my breath.

"Time Gears?" He roared, causing the tower to quake alarmingly. "Those were destroyed long ago!" He whipped around, sweeping his tail towards me. The impact flung me backward and I hit something hard, then was pinned by one of Dialga's massive feet. Agonizing pain shot through my body. Dialga had trapped me against one of the pillars. "You shouldn't have come here!"

"Gale!" Shiloh shouted, and I managed to glance down at her. I wanted to call to her and tell her to put the Time Gears into their slots, but Dialga was slowly crushing me, and I could barely breathe.

_Do it, _I thought as my vision began to fade out. _Put them back…_

"Nothing can fix time now…not even me!" Dialga roared. "You shouldn't have come!" I filled my lungs as much as I could, then shouted out.

"Put them back!" I screamed, then felt the pillar behind me crumbling as Dialga pressed me harder against it. Shiloh hesitated, then ran towards the steps and reached inside the satchel around her shoulders. I could just make out her placing one Time Gear into a slot, then another, and another…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Dialga bellowed. The ground quaked and it felt like the tower was going to collapse any moment. Shiloh glanced up fearfully, her eyes stretched wide, but she turned back to the panel and pushed one more Time Gear into its slot, then the fifth, and finally held up the sixth. Dialga roared violently, splitting the air with his cry, and Shiloh dropped the gear as Dialga turned towards her. She fumbled for the Time Gear, then picked it up and stood on her toes as she prepared to put it in the last slot…

My vision faded out.

"Gale? Gale! Get up! Come on!" The cries were coming from a long way off, like they were being shouted across a canyon. When I opened my eyes, I saw someone leaning over me—a light blue figure. The figure's image cleared after I blinked a few times. "Gale!" Someone sat me up. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" I finally registered the voice as Shiloh's.

"Ugh…uhh…yeah, I can….." I closed my eyes and felt Shiloh hug me tightly. I moaned in protest and hoped she'd stop. It felt like Dialga had broken every bone in my body.

"Sorry!" Shiloh gasped, pulling away. "But I'm so glad you're okay!" I stared dimly at her, disoriented.

"Are you okay?" I coughed, panting. "I saw Dialga attacking you…" Shiloh shook her head, a smile of relief on her face.

"I'm fine! See? And, Gale…I put all the Time Gears back! We did it!" Something clicked in my head and my eyes widened.

"So time is back to normal?" Shiloh nodded breathlessly, beaming.

"There was a big flash of light after I put the last one in, and then Dialga froze. He's there." She pointed, and I glanced blearily where she was pointing, then jolted in alarm and scooted backward. A powerful shock of pain stunned me and I hit the ground, squeezing my eyes shut. Gradually the pain stopped and I lifted my head to see Shiloh supporting me.

"I must apologize," a booming voice sounded, and I gazed upward. Dialga was standing there, but his colors had changed to a lighter blue, and his eyes seemed calmer somehow. "I was in the grip of madness. If I'd understood your intentions, I would not have attacked you. Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine, I think," I groaned. Shiloh helped me get to my feet.

"Dialga," Shiloh questioned, hope in her voice, "is time really back to normal?" The massive Pokémon nodded once.

"See for yourself." My vision suddenly whited out and then faded back in to show a vast sea of lush trees. The scenery changed to show the trees closer up. A droplet of water slid down a leaf and fell towards the ground.

"That's Treeshroud Forest!" I heard Shiloh exclaim in disbelief from beside me, but I couldn't see her. "How can we see this?"

"I'm using telepathy," Dialga's voice sounded inside my head. "The world is indeed back to normal. You succeeded in restoring time."

"That's wonderful!" Shiloh exclaimed, sounding faint with relief. The scene inside my head changed again, but this time I saw Temporal Tower. It was crumbling away and the path that led to it was also damaged, probably past the point of walking down safely. With a white flash the image vanished and I was staring up at Dialga again.

"The tower and path are damaged," Dialga announced. "I will start repairing them, but it will take some time. So I will take you two back to the Rainbow Stoneship." The towering Pokémon glanced down and his eyes glowed a soft blue. Suddenly Shiloh and I were rising into the air. Dialga was lifting us onto his back, and when we landed, we both held onto one of the spike's on Dialga's back. Flickering blue energy that resembled flames surrounded Dialga's body and he slowly lifted into the air, then smoothly took off. It was a gentler ride than the one on Lapras, though I still felt slightly sick to my stomach as he coasted through the sky. Within minutes he had landed on the ground. I lifted my head and saw the Rainbow Stoneship just a few feet away. Dialga lowered himself again and then lowered us to the ground. "Thank you, Dialga," Shiloh told Dialga gratefully. I nodded faintly.

"Thank you," I repeated. Dialga stared back at us for a moment, then glanced at the sky.

"I must go now," he said distantly. "I wish you well. Thank you for all you have done." The blue aura rose like flames around his body as he rose into the air and flew off. I watched him go, then looked back at the Rainbow Stoneship. Shiloh was already walking towards it. When she clambered on and set me down, I examined myself. I had cuts and some gashes all across my body and probably would have a couple dozen bruises tomorrow…or maybe not. There was a slight jolt as the Rainbow Stoneship began to move across the sky.

"Are you really alright, Gale?" Shiloh asked, and I gingerly turned towards her. "I wanted to help you back there, but I heard you tell me to put the Time Gears back…so I did." She lowered her head. "It was hard. I was so afraid. I thought Dialga was going to kill you." I laughed anxiously.

"I thought he was going to kill you," I muttered. "I had a vision. I saw him…attack you." I wrapped my arms around myself and shuddered lightly. "You were great…getting the Time Gears back. You were the right one for the job." I smiled a bit as I remembered something. "You found the relic fragment, after all. Even though Grovyle and I had a mission, we wouldn't have been able to do anything if it hadn't been for you." Shiloh's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?" She asked, bewildered, glancing away. "I found it by chance…it wasn't anything special." I opened my mouth to speak, but my breath caught in my throat. I suddenly felt really ill, as if I hadn't eaten in days. My head spun and I swayed, suddenly unable to sit up. I fell sideways and hit the Stoneship with a thud that sent a dim pain shooting through my body. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would have. "Gale?" I looked up to see Shiloh leaning over me. "What's wrong?"

"I'm…tired," I slurred. "Really…tired…"

"I know," Shiloh said. "Me too. Just hang in there. It's not much farther." Light flickered across my vision, and I blinked slowly to try and clear them away, but they didn't go away. Wearily lifting a paw, I saw yellow motes of light lifting from my arm and fading away.

"Shiloh?" I asked quietly, and she looked down at me. "I'm sorry...but I have to go."

"What do you mean?" Shiloh asked, a strained catch to her voice. "You're going to be fine, Gale."

"I'm going to disappear soon." Shiloh's face scrunched up in confusion, but then she noticed the lights, and gazed at one of the motes as it drifted up into the air.

"What are those?" She asked, voice shaking a little as she looked at me with trepidation. "What's happening?" I took a breath.

"Dusknoir told me while you were getting the Stoneship ready," I explained softly, wanting to close my eyes and fall asleep. "We fixed time and changed the future. That means…" My eyes slipped shut. "That means…everyone from the future…humans and Pokémon…won't exist anymore." I managed to opened my eyes and fix my gaze on Shiloh. She was staring at me and slowly shaking her head. "I've got to go too."


	11. Restoration

**This is where the story might go off into my own theories. Hopefully they're not too crazy...or if they are crazy, it's a good crazy.  
I don't own Pokémon or the games. Thank you for reading!**

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**Restoration**

"Gale?" Shiloh shook me a few times, and I remembered the waves that had rocked Lapras while he carried Shiloh, Grovyle and me towards the Sea of Time. Shiloh was cradling me in her arms. "It's going to be alright. When we land I'll carry you back to Treasure Town, and Doctor will help you."

"I would have told you," I told her, guilty, "but I was scared. I'm sorry."

"S-so…right now, Grovyle, Linné, Dusknoir and…" Shiloh stammered, sounding choked, "and your friends and family…they're going to disappear?"

"…Yeah," I responded, then shut my eyes tightly. "It's as if…it's like I killed them. When I was human, I hope that I asked myself…and wondered what was more important…" I felt tears welling up. "I don't remember my family or friends at all…I wish there could have been another way, but we didn't have a choice…" There was a sudden dull ache in my body; I opened my eyes and looked at Shiloh. She had pulled me into a hug.

"Gale, please, don't go." She drew back and there were tears streaming down her face. "What'll I do without you?"

"You'll be fine." I managed a little smile. "We went through lots of things together, but in the end, I was just here to help." A heavy feeling came over me and my eyes slipped shut. "I don't mind."

"Come on, Gale," Shiloh cried, and she tugged at my arms. "Everyone in Treasure Town is waiting for us! You need to come back!"

"Shiloh," I mumbled. "You helped me when I didn't have anywhere to go." I faltered as my voice cracked. Tiredly, I opened my eyes halfway and saw that the light was getting brighter. "Even though I won't exist, I'll always be glad that I met you. Tell everyone what happened…so this doesn't happen again." The golden motes of light brightened to white and suddenly everything became silent.

* * *

Everything was dark. I was awake, and I knew that my eyes were open, but I could just barely see myself in the darkness. Attempting to sit up made everything hurt, and my left ankle wouldn't support my weight. I sat heavily back down and clutched my knees, shivering as it suddenly became colder.

"Shiloh?" I called out, voice trembling. "Grovyle?" There was no reply.

What had I been doing?

Shiloh and I had climbed a tower to do something important…

I tried to jump to my feet, but only made it halfway before my ankle gave way; I stumbled and fell to all fours. Staring at myself, I realized something. I had dark skin now instead of green, and five-fingered hands, not three-fingered paws. I glanced behind me and didn't see a dark green tail. Then I realized I was a lot bigger and taller than usual. I'd gotten used to just being a foot tall but now I was back to my normal human height.

"Is this real?" I muttered, shaking my head in confusion. "I'm a human."

"Of course," the voice said, sounding faintly puzzled. "I have only seen you as a human."

"I was…I was a Treecko, though," I said, confused. "But I'm a human now."

"Really?" Realization crept into the unknown speaker's voice. "That's why I wasn't able to find you." There was a low chuckle. "Perhaps in this environment—that is, a dream—you took your true form."

"If I'm dreaming," I muttered slowly, "I'm alive." Glancing around again, I tried to find the source of the voice, but I couldn't see a thing. Someone could be right next to me and I wouldn't know. I took a couple of nervous steps, wondering if I should run.

Something brushed against my shoulder. I staggered upright and turned sharply before falling backward.

"Who are you?" I asked, drawing back. "Where am I? I disappeared, but…I'm dreaming this." Shaking my head, I rubbed my arms, shivering. "This isn't like a normal dream. We're talking like…it's really happening." People had lucid dreams, sure, but something about this dream felt…unsettling.

"I can enter dreams," the voice murmured. "Dreams of Pokémon and humans alike."

"Are you a Pokémon?" I questioned slowly. "Humans can't do that."

"Indeed they cannot," the voice chuckled darkly. "To answer your question, I am a Pokémon."

"How can we understand each other?" I questioned, realizing that I couldn't be speaking the Pokémon language.

"This is a dream," the Pokémon replied, "or was, rather." I felt something brush against my back and froze. Clawed hands brushed against my face. "It's a nightmare…the last one you'll ever have." The hands suddenly gripped my throat and I choked, grabbing them and trying to pry them away. "This has to be done." Light shone off in the distance, then became brighter without warning.

"Cease this now!" A commanding voice intoned as the light became blinding. The hands let go of my throat and I collapsed.

I came awake shivering, and felt hard ground beneath me. I faintly remembered that I'd been dreaming, but couldn't remember what it had been about. Sitting up groggily, I glanced around, but couldn't see a thing. I glanced up; there were some stars overhead. I could only see a few, and wondered if it was cloudy. I couldn't see the moon, not even a bit of its light from behind a cloud. I felt the ground and felt gritty, soft particles in my fingers; dirt, I realized. I steadily got to my feet, but felt pain shoot through my left leg, and I fell back with a thud. Gingerly touching the hurt spot, I remembered I'd twisted it. My whole body was sore, feeling like I had bruises all over. It wouldn't be going very far with this until it got better. An odd feeling came over me, and I stared at my hands…no, paws…for a moment. I shook my head rapidly and sighed, then glanced around and saw a dark shape nearby. My body froze for a moment; then I jolted in alarm and pushed myself backwards. The dark shape didn't move and I stopped, breathing heavily, realizing that it might not be a Pokémon as my panic ebbed away. I crawled towards it, then reached up and touched it. It felt like a shrub, and had a hint of a sweet fragrance.

I crawled closer, then curled up under the plant and pulled my tail over my body for some warmth. I listened hard, but there weren't any sounds. No rustling, and no cries of other Pokémon. There wasn't even a slight breeze to rustle any nearby plants or trees. Suddenly I wished it were light out. Treecko lived in trees, not on the ground, but I couldn't see enough around me to even find a tree. I didn't live here, wherever here was, and I was probably intruding on some other Pokémon's territory, even though I couldn't hear any of them. I sighed and curled up more tightly, suddenly feeling a strange tingling sensation in my tail. The air seemed to be cooler, and it seemed a little more humid, somehow. I sniffed, but couldn't smell any rain. I remembered that Treecko could predict the weather, but I hadn't ever really used the ability, having been born a human.

I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, wondering why I was here. I should have disappeared already, and thought that I had. I was glad I was still here, but still…I wanted to know what happened. I thought hard for a while, lying quietly and feeling drowsier with each passing minute. The last thing I remembered was saying goodbye to Shiloh after returning the Time Gears to Temporal Tower. I had no idea how long ago that had been. I wished I could tell her I was okay. I thought again for a moment, trying to ignore the confusion I felt. The only thing to do was to go to Treasure Town. I wanted to go now, but it hurt too much to move. Even if I could, though, it'd be impossible for me to get far in the dark. The bush I was hiding under seemed safe, so it was probably fine to try and get some rest. The sooner I could see where I was, though, the better I'd feel about things. I opened my eyes and looked around, but it was still pitch black, and the moon still wasn't out. I yawned quietly, then closed my eyes.

Water dripping onto my face brought me around. I could hear rain falling lightly, and I groggily looked at what I'd fallen asleep under the night before. It had been a shrub, like I'd guessed, and it was decorated with large blue berries. My stomach growled as I studied them and wondered about taking some to eat. They looked like Oran berries, so I took one and bit into it. It was a normally a mix of flavors, but this one tasted sweeter than some of the other Oran berries I'd had, and I ate it quickly, then took another and then dragged myself slowly from under the bush and sat up. While I ate the berry I looked around, hoping I'd be able to figure out where I was. I had somehow wound up on a tall, grassy hill, and before me lay a small grassland that shifted into rocky territory. A distant rugged peak loomed over the grassland and I could see tall mountains behind it. It looked familiar and I felt a surge of relief; the mountain range looked like of the landmarks of the Guild's big expedition. Callo, Shiloh and I had passed through Mt. Horn before reaching fogbound lake. The rain suddenly began to let up and I glanced around. I suddenly had an urge to get up and get moving.

I didn't feel too great, though. My body felt heavy and it ached from the bruises I'd gotten at Temporal Tower. I stared at my ankle and noticed it looked swollen; it felt painful when I moved it even a little. I needed to wrap it but there didn't seem to be anything around that I could use. I rubbed my neck and felt something wrapped around it. Suddenly I remembered it was my Pecha scarf. _My injuries, my scarf…I'm the same as when I disappeared. _My stomach growled. I glanced at the shrub and thought for a minute. If I rationed them there would be enough Oran berries to last another day or so, and I might be able to walk by then and make it back to Treasure Town.

"What are you doing there?" An angry voice demanded. I jumped in shock and turned my head to see a Girafarig standing on the hill above me. She was pawing the ground with an angry expression, tearing up little tufts of grass and scoring grooves into the earth. "You're stealing food."

"No, I just—" I stammered, but the Pokémon approached and knocked the berry out of my paw with a flick of her muzzle.

"What's that, then?" She snorted, rolling the berry away from me with a hoof. I attempted to stand up, but the Girafarig buffeted me out of the way with her muzzle. I landed on my back and tried to back up, but she came closer and leaned over me, pinning me lightly with her front hooves. I cringed, feeling the pain of my bruises, knowing she could stomp and crush me if she wanted. I was in the position to use absorb but knew it would probably just make the bad situation much worse.

"I'm sorry," I told her, hoping I could apologize and leave. "I don't know how I got here. I was going to rest for a few days and then leave." I watched her and swallowed heavily; she still looked angry. "But I can leave sooner if you want me to. I didn't mean to steal anything. I was just hungry."

"Treecko don't live here," she rumbled. "So what are you doing here?"

"I don't know," I repeated anxiously. "I just wound up here somehow." She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes.

"Did another Pokémon teleport you?" She asked, and I shook my head.

"I don't think so," I responded. "Like I said, I'll leave. I'm sorry." The Girafarig frowned skeptically at me and brought her face close to mine. She studied me up and down for a moment.

"How did you get injured?" She questioned, and I realized I probably looked pretty bad.

"My friend and I were trying to get time back to normal," I explained quickly, "so we went to the Hidden Land, and then…"

"The Hidden Land?" The Girafarig asked sharply, releasing me and stepping back, her eyes wide and ears perked. Her eyes looked puzzled, then thoughtful. "Are you one of those Pokémon from Wigglytuff's Guild?" I nodded eagerly.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "My friend is, too. Her name is Shiloh. She's a Squirtle." There was a hint of recognition in the Girafarig's eyes. Gingerly I pushed myself up to a sitting position and stretched my left leg out. "I'm trying to get back to Treasure Town so I can talk to her. She doesn't know I'm okay."

"Time went back to normal three months ago," the Girafarig murmured, narrowing an eye at me. I looked at her in disbelief, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me. "I heard about what was happening when the Guild Pokémon were trying to find the Hidden Land, and again when some Guild Pokémon were here talking about what had happened afterward."

"I need to get back," I said urgently, but knew I wouldn't get far the way my ankle was.

"You won't be able to move for a while," she noted, sounding a little frustrated.

"No…so could I stay here for a couple days, maybe?" I asked hopefully. "If I take care of my leg, I should be able to leave by then." The Girafarig gave me a long look through narrowed eyes. Then she tossed her head and let out a breath.

"Fine," she said. "Stay right here. You can eat the berries on that bush." She leaned down and nosed my left leg; I winced but tried not to move. "I can't do much for that."

"That's okay," I told her, hoping it would just get better on its own. "Thank you." The Girafarig snorted and then ran off over the hill away from me. I leaned forward to grab the rock, then scooted farther under the bush and repositioned my foot so that it was propped up again. I felt even more tired now and leaned back, closing my eyes, still thinking about Drowzee at Mt. Travail and meeting Shiloh again at Treasure Town. I had no idea how I was still alive, but whatever the reason, I was starting to feel less confused about it and more relieved and happy. It seemed that a lot of time had gone by since time had returned to normal, but I still remembered having to wake up early to start the Guild's training. I hoped everyone, especially Shiloh, was doing okay. I wondered if Kit was training at the Guild. He could have evolved into a Pidgeotto by now.

_Why am I still alive?_ I couldn't help but thinking about it again, and I opened my eyes. _But if I'm alive…then maybe…could Grovyle, Linné and all the other future Pokémon and people be alive too? Sam, Brendan, their parents and my parents…I don't want to be the only one who came back._ Uneasily, I squeezed my eyes shut and listened to the wind rustling the bush I was lying under. I took a breath, and tried to push the thoughts aside. I couldn't find anything out now. I just had to get to Mt. Travail and see if it was the same Drowzee Shiloh and I had fought all those months ago. We'd faced each obstacle as it came when we were crossing the Hidden Land. I had to do the same thing now, and to start, I had to get some sleep. The world was safe. I had time. The thought made me feel better and I felt myself relaxing and drifting off to sleep.

"Hey, you," a voice growled next to my head, and I rolled over sleepily, expecting Girafarig to be there. Instead, I saw a dark eyes glaring and caught a glimpse of sharp white fangs. I sprang to my feet and stumbled backward in alarm, falling heavily when I stood on my hurt leg. The Pokémon—a Houndour—lumbered towards me, head tipped to the right. "Will it rain tomorrow?"

"Uh…" I said nervously, trying to remember how I'd predicted rain after waking up on this hill for the first time. It had suddenly just felt a little more humid, and I'd had a weird prickly sensation in my tail. I didn't feel either of those things now, so I shook my head. "I don't think so," I responded, hoping the Houndour wasn't angry at me for trespassing; the Pokémon might suddenly decide to attack. Shiloh and I were opposing types, but we'd gotten along fine for the most part.

"Cammy says you're from Treasure Town." The fire Pokémon's red-orange muzzle wrinkled. "She's the one who found you. How did you end up all the way out here?"

"I wish I knew," I answered with a shake of my head.

"You've been asleep for a day," Houndour remarked. "Are you going to get up now?" I carefully flexed my ankle and winced, but notice that it was a bit less swollen than it had been yesterday.

"I'm up now," I said, "but I'm not going to walk around yet."

"But maybe soon?" The Houndour pressed, dark, slanted eyes watching me closely.

"Maybe," I agreed. "I'll see." The Houndour sat down and twitched an ear, then gave a huff.

"What's your name?"

"Gale," I responded, then sat up carefully, took an Oran berry from the bush, and took a little bite from it.

"Mine's Rottie," the Houndour offered, short tail twitching back and forth. "Are you on one of those exploration teams?"

"Yep," I answered. "Team Finders." Rottie's head tipped to the side.

"How come you aren't at the Guild now?" The Houndour asked. "Did you not like it there?" The Pokémon looked a little downcast, and I shook my head, then finished off the Oran berry.

"I liked it," I responded, then frowned. "I didn't want to leave, but I had to. I'm going back now, though."

"Do you think I could join the Guild?" Rottie asked, ears perking up, tail wagging. "My brother always thought he was the stronger male, but I thought he was an idiot."

"I'm not so strong, either," I said, "but you'd become stronger."

"You think so?" Rottie asked eagerly, eyes widening. I nodded. "When do you think your leg will be better?"

"I don't know," I told him, shrugging. "Soon, I hope." I jolted in surprise as Rottie leapt to all fours.

"Well, Gale, let me tell you what." He sat down, tongue lolling and his eyes excited. "Why don't I take carry you? You won't have to worry about hurting your leg, and we'll be able to go right now!" He looked at me hopefully. "What do you say? Could we go right now? I'd carry you, and you'd tell me the way to Treasure Town!" I stared at the Houndour, hesitating.

"You'd carry me?" I asked, and Rottie nodded energetically, his short tail wagging furiously. "It's a long way."

"We'd rest along the way," Rottie stated. "We'd find food, too." He was starting to look a little frustrated. "So come on!"

"I have to go to Mt. Travail before Treasure Town," I told the Houndour. "Would that be okay? And what about your family?"

"Mt. Travail is on the way!" Rottie trotted up to me and did a bow, lowering his head. "As for my family, they don't live here. I came here by myself." He pawed at the ground and growled impatiently, shooting me a look. "Get on!" Hesitantly I stood, then put both paws on Rottie's neck. I briefly put my weight on my left leg so I could swing my right over his back. I almost fell off but managed to regain a grip on Rottie's neck just in time. "Okay!" The Houndour yipped, rearing up. I clung tightly to his neck, then shut my eyes tightly as he charged off down the hill. "So long, Shimmer Hills!" He howled jovially. "I'm a fast runner! We'll be at Mt. Travail in no time!"

* * *

Rottie crouched down and I slid down his neck, then dangled for a moment before letting myself drop to the ground. I overbalanced and fell backwards, but had managed not to jar my ankle. Glancing up at the fire type Pokémon, I saw him giving me a fanged grin. "I told you I was fast," he panted happily, tail waving back and forth.

"You did," I chuckled weakly, feeling a little dizzy and sick to my stomach. We were at the base of Mt. Travail; it had taken Rottie a day to get there, and now we were resting under a rocky overhang as the sun sank below the western horizon. The Houndour curled up a few feet away from me and rested his head between his paws. I stretched out and lay my head on my arms, closing my eyes. I'd almost drifted off when I heard Rottie's voice.

"What were you doing before you wound up at Shimmer Hill?" He asked curiously, and I opened my eyes and slowly sat up.

"Well…Shiloh and I went to the Hidden Land to restore time to normal," I explained slowly. "We had the Time Gears and were able to get them to the top of Temporal Tower, and after that, time was restored." I looked at the ground. "Has time frozen anywhere else since then?"

"Not that I've heard," Rottie answered distantly. "I heard of some problems, but Treeshroud Forest was fine." I glanced up sharply, knowing the area had been frozen in time for a while. I wondered if Pokémon who were caught in the time freeze didn't remember anything when time was restored. "There were some tremors for a little while, but they stopped, and then everything was back to normal."

"Treeshroud Forest?" I asked. Rottie nodded.

"That's where I used to live," he said, then yawned loudly and stretched his legs. "Could you tell me more tomorrow?"

"Sure," I agreed.

"Before we start climbing," Rottie murmured sleepily, "we should look for some food." I felt a yawn coming on and put a paw over my mouth, then curled up and pulled my tail over my body. The sun had gone down and the air was starting to cool. "Goodnight." Rottie didn't say anything back; I heard his steady breathing and guessed he was asleep. I eventually dozed off with thoughts of returning to Treasure Town and seeing Shiloh again.

* * *

**Pokémon:**

**Female Girafarig - Cammy**

**Male Houndour - Rottie (As in, a nickname for the Rottweiler breed of dog)**

**I don't know what a Pokémon is doing with a human nickname for an animal...heck, I dunno what any of them are doing with human names, but some Pokédex entries mention African elephants, so for all I know there's a region somewhere in the Pokémon world that's called Earth. XD**

**In the game, I never knew how I felt about the main character making a sacrifice but coming back in the end (though I guess another part of the sacrifice was that the main character would never see their friends and family again). I guess in the end Mystery Dungeon is just a game and it can't just end like that (though several good games do end with the main character dying and staying dead).  
The fact that the main character came back did open up some questions, though. What happened to the rest of the Pokémon and humans of the future? What happened to the main character's family and friends?  
Explorers of Sky answered a couple of those questions, in that the main character isn't the only one to come back. I think it would have slightly marred the game's experience if the main character had gone back to the human world (since the games are mainly all about Pokémon), but I wonder if such a story arc will happen one of these days, like the story arc calls for the MC to go to the human world to fight some evil that came from the world of Pokémon. I don't know. But it sounds like it could be cool. For now though I'm making do with incorporating my theories into this story.  
**


End file.
